When AUO introduced its flexible e-paper, EpaperCentral had the opportunity to discuss the introduction with C.T. (Chun-Ting) Liu, Corporate Senior Vice President and the General Manger of Consumer Product Display Business Group of AUO. Taiwan’s largest manufacturer of thin film transistor liquid display panels, AUO Optronics Corporation (AUO) also ranks in the top three TFT-LCD manufacturers in the world.
Q. From AUO’s perspective, what do you see as the potential for the e-paper market?
Liu: AUO had studied e-paper technologies for a few years and decided to start this business by adopting SiPix technology in Q4/2008 because SiPix shows the most promising roll-to-roll manufacturing capability. We believe the e-paper should eventually be made by printing process similar to publication industry for printing out the newspapers, books, magazines, and articles. With this kind of manufacturing for real paper replacement, it will definitely impact our living style in the near future. (Note: In mid-2009, AUO became a major shareholder (over 30%) in SiPix Imaging.)
Q. Is AUO working with SiPix on other applications of e-paper technology and when might they be introduced?
Liu: In addition to the e-reader, we are also working on e-tag applications, which had been mass produced in Q3/2009. In fact, the real paper replacement is what we really care because the total available market size is immense and can reduce a lot of carbon emission beneficial to human beings.
Q. What were the challenges to developing a flexible reader? What are the main features of the flexible display?
Liu: The most challenging point is the large quantity supply with comparative low cost for flexible e-reader. Currently, the TFT backplane is prepared by sheet to sheet process on glass or plastic substrate by utilizing glass substrate as a carrier. The manufacturing cost is relatively high due to the small scale production.
Using SiPix’s exclusive Microcup® technology, the flexible e-paper incorporates a plastic substrate, so that the display can be repeatedly bended, allowing it to match even more closely the functionality of real paper. While the curved radius of this e-paper reaches 100mm, it remains flexible and features 16 gray levels, a 9:1 high contrast ratio, and a reflectance of 33%. The size of the flexible e-paper is able to be tailor-made based on customers’ needs. AUO expects to distribute samples to customers in 2010 and to start volume production then.
Q. What differentiates the AUO E-reader from those currently available on the market?
Liu: The roll-to-roll process based on SiPix technology is the ultimate goal to success regarding to the cost point of view as well as the potential of color and flexible technology in one shot. We are speeding up the development to have these delicate products to the market.
Q. Commercial product is planned for next year for the flexible e-reader . I presume that is a black-and-white device. Are color and/or video devices in the plans for the future? When might those be introduced for commercialization?
Liu: We have set a step-by-step milestone toward flexible and color, which will be announced sometime this year. Keeping the relative good whiteness is crucial for bringing the color to e-paper. Otherwise, it will become one kind of TFT/LCD panel instead of e-reader.
Q. What kind of demand do you foresee for the flexible e-reader? Has AUO planned any manufacturing expansion to accommodate the demand?
Liu: From small to large size application, they all need the non-fragile and slim style, which are the characteristics of flexible substrate. Eventually, most of the e-paper products will be replaced by a flexible one, and hence we are reuniting all the resources internally and externally to be ready for this transition.
There is no longer any question whether e-readers will become accepted in the marketplace. According to research firm iSuppli, global shipments of e-paper displays projected at approximately 3.6 million units in 2009 are expected to rise to 18.3 million units in 2012. Revenues for global e-paper displays are forecast to reach US $291.2 million by 2012, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 143% from US$3.5 million in 2007. Rather, as competition heats up, the question becomes which e-paper technology will become dominant and which company will become the market leader. Until now, E-Ink (now a subsidiary of Prime View International) has dominated the market with its electrophoretic technology. However, with AUO’s support, SiPix electrophotetic technology, with its potential for roll-to-roll manufacturing, is poised to provide serious competition. There is also no question that 2010 will provide some of those answers.
Linda Casatelli
auo, epaper
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