- Agreement with Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-electronics for OLED
deposition to meet near-term production needs - Agreement with BOE Group and Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-electronics to
establish a state of the art, high-volume facility for manufacturing
OLED micro-displays
Kopin Corporation (Nasdaq: KOPN),
a leading developer of micro-displays and innovative wearable computing
technologies and solutions, today announced two agreements with two
leading global OLED companies as part of its unique fab-less OLED
manufacturing strategy for its silicon-based Lightning™ OLED displays
introduced at CES in January 2017. Kopin sees continued market
indicators of high demand of OLED micro-displays for both augmented
reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in the coming years and these new
agreements represent important steps in preparing to meet both the
near-term and long-term demands.
Kopin signed an agreement with Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-electronics
Technology Co. Ltd. (OLiGHTEK), a leader in high performance OLED
micro-displays on silicon. The parties will jointly purchase an advanced
production OLED deposition line to be installed within OLiGHTEK’s
facility in order to augment OLiGHTEK’s existing capabilities. This OLED
deposition line is expected to be ready for volume production by the end
of 2017, enabling Kopin to meet the near-term customer demand for its
consumer OLED micro-displays. Under the terms of the agreement, Kopin
will be entitled to 50% of the new line output.
Kopin has also entered into a separate agreement with BOE Technology
Group Co. Ltd. (BOE) and OLiGHTEK. The agreement will establish a
high-volume, state of the art facility to manufacture OLED
micro-displays to support the growing AR and VR markets. The new
facility, which would be the world’s largest OLED-on-silicon
manufacturing center, will be managed by BOE and is expected to be built
in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. BOE is a world leader in the
manufacture of liquid crystal and OLED on glass displays for
televisions, tablets and smartphones.
“We have received extremely positive response to our Lightning OLED
displays which have superb image quality, small size, fast frame-rate
and low power consumption,” said Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin’s President
and CEO. “We have a fab-less manufacturing model both for the back-end
silicon wafer processing and the front-end OLED deposition for our
Lightning OLED displays. This is a first in the OLED micro-display
industry, and today’s announcements represent important elements of our
fab-less model. Our partnership with OLiGHTEK will enable us to begin
volume production of our Lightning OLED displays in late 2017. The
agreement between BOE, OLiGHTEK and Kopin will provide industry leading
capacity and quality of OLED micro-displays for the growing AR and VR
markets when the facility is completed.”
Neither of these new agreements involves licensing of any Kopin
technologies.
About BOE
BOE (Shenzhen Stock Exchange Stock Code: BOE A (000725), BOE B (200725))
is a supplier of internet of things technologies, products and services
with revenues of approximately $7.3 billion for fiscal year 2015. BOE’s
three core businesses are Display Device, Smart System and Healthcare
Service. BOE’s products are widely used in a broad spectrum of
applications such as mobile phone, tablet, notebook, monitor, TV,
vehicle display, digital information display, healthcare, finance, and
wearable devices. For more information, please visit BOE’s website at www.boe.com.
About Olightek
Founded in 2008, Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-Electronic Technology Co. Ltd.
(OLiGHTEK) dedicated themselves to developing high definition AMOLED
(Active Matrix-Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology and
microdisplays. With headquarter and manufacturing in Kunming, Yunnan,
OLiGHTEK is the first company in China to design and manufacture the
cutting-edge full digital AMOLED microdisplays and entered the market in
2009. So far, more than 10 key OLED patents have been granted officially
for OLiGHTEK’s speciality and innovation. OLiGHTEK is also the biggest
manufacturer of full digital AMOLED microdisplays in China with annual
production of more than 450,000 panels. OLiGHTEK’s high quality products
for near-to-eye applications are shipped to many customers worldwide.
For more information, please visit OLiGHTEK’s’s website at www.olightek.com.
About Kopin
Kopin Corporation is a leading developer and provider of innovative
wearable technologies and solutions for integration into head-worn
computing and display systems to military, industrial and consumer
customers. Kopin’s technology portfolio includes ultra-small LED and
OLED displays, optics, speech enhancement technology, system and
hands-free control software, low-power ASICs, and ergonomically designed
smart headset reference systems. Kopin is the world’s leader in
microdisplays. Over the years, Kopin has shipped over 30 million LCD
microdisplays for consumer applications. Kopin’s proprietary components
and technology are protected by more than 300 global patents and patents
pending. For more information, please visit Kopin’s website at www.kopin.com.
Kopin and Lightning OLED are trademarks of Kopin Corporation.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release may be considered “forward-looking”
statements under the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation,
statements relating to our statement that we see continued market
indicators of high demand of OLED micro-displays for both augmented
reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in the coming years; that these
new agreements represent important steps in preparing to meet both the
near-term and long-term demands; our expectation that the OLED
deposition line which we are jointly purchasing with OLiGHTEK will be
ready for volume production by the end of 2017, enabling Kopin to meet
the near-term customer demand for its consumer OLED micro-displays; our
expectation that the agreement between Kopin, BOE and OLiGHTEK will
establish a state of the art, high-volume facility to manufacture
consumer-focused OLED micro-displays; our belief that the AR and VR
markets are growing;our expectation that the new facility will
be built on a 20 acres parcel of land in Kunming, Yunnan Province,
China;our belief that the facility will be the world’s largest OLED on
Si manufacturing center; our expectation that the facility will be
completed within two years; our expectation that our partnership with
OLiGHTEK will enable us to begin volume production of our Lightning OLED
in late 2017; and our belief that the agreement between BOE, OLiGHTEK
and Kopin will provide industry leading capacity and quality for the
growing augmented and virtual reality markets when the facility is
completed. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:the AR and
VR markets may not grow; there may not be demand for our products; the
OLED deposition equipment may not be able to produce product by the end
of 2017 or ever; we may not be able to provide significant quantities of
our consumer OLED displays; the state of the art high volume facility
may not be completed within the time frame we expect; there may be
issues with obtaining permits, materials and other issues which may
prevent the building of the facility; we may not be able to obtain the
20 acres parcel of land in Kunming Yunnan Province China and therefore
have to find an alternative site which may cause delays in building the
facility; the wearable market may not grow fast;it may take
longer than the Company estimates to develop products; the Company’s
products may not be accepted by the market place; there may
be issues that prevent the adoption or further development of the
Company’s wearable computing technologies; manufacturing,
marketing or other issues may prevent either the adoption or acceptance
of products; the Company might be adversely affected by competitive
products and pricing; new product initiatives and other research and
development efforts may be unsuccessful; the Company could experience
the loss of significant customers; costs to produce the Company’s
products might increase significantly, or yields could decline;
the Company’s customers might be unable to ramp production volumes of
their products, manufacturing delays, technical issues, economic
conditions or external factors may prevent the Company from achieving
its goals; and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed in
the Company’s periodic reports and registration statements filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the 12 months ended December 31,2016, and the
Company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking
statements, which are based only on information currently available to
the Company and only as of the date on which they are made. The Company
undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date
of this release.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170405006138/en/
For Product Information:
Kopin Corportion
Paul Baker, 508-870-5959
VP
Business Development
pbaker@kopin.com
For
Investor Relations
Kopin Corporation
Richard Sneider, 508-870-5959
Treasurer
and Chief Financial Officer
rsneider@kopin.com
or
Market
Street Partners
Joann Horne, 415-445-3233
JHorne@marketstreetpartners.com