‘Korea is important OLED materials market for Merck’
As organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology is taking center stage in the global materials industry, Korea is being thrust into the limelight thanks to its world-renowned tech firms Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics’ commitment to it for their products, including high-end smartphones and TVs.
Plus, OLED is said to have the potential to become the technology of the future for displays and lighting, helping to elevate the nation’s reputation as well.
Those are the points why Merck, a global leader in performance materials, makes much of the Korean market.
“Personally, I think Korea is still an important market for us. These days, we talk a lot about China and other places. But I think the innovation power in Korea is still very high and we also have huge customers here,” Walter Galinat, CEO of Merck’s performance materials business, said in an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Wednesday.
“So I am pretty positive about the potential in Korea. There are some challenges that every nation has to face when salaries rise, but Korea will cope with this and will continue to be a big industrial player.”
He said Samsung and LG, among others, are the most prominent customers for displays, while Merck also does business with Samsung for semiconductors.
As part of its efforts to offer highly efficient OLED materials, Merck launched the “HyperOLED” project last month, in the form of a five-way consortium.
“The idea is to develop a next-level OLED material to make better OLEDs and also enhance the brightness of the color,” Galinat said.
“We are very happy to be a leader in this project and this is exactly in line with our strategy to be always at the forefront of the development.”
Along with the project, Merck, headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, has continued to invest heavily in OLED technology.
“Last year, we built a new fabrication plant for OLED materials (in Darmstadt) and we are investing in Korea to double the capacity, which will be finished in six weeks, to serve our customers here in Korea,” he said. According to Merck, the new production plant in Germany enables production capacity to be increased fivefold.
In addition, Merck built an OLED Application Center in May 2015 in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, to strengthen its commitment to OLED research.
“Since Korea is leading in the development of OLED, we do not have comparable facilities outside of Korea. It makes no sense to build such facilities in another country,” the CEO said.
Although OLED is gaining in importance today, its successful predecessor, or liquid crystal display (LCD), will not disappear anytime soon and both will exist in parallel, Galinat predicted.
“There is no doubt that OLED technology will become more important — in particular for mobile devices,” he said.
“However, the question here is can they (OLED) completely replace liquid crystal technology? My personal assumption is no.”
He added that it is different from a competition between LCD and plasma in the beginning of the flat panel display era, in which LCD eventually prevailed and plasma TVs completely disappeared.
“I can’t imagine that one or the other technology will disappear because you have to consider a lot of dedicated production capacity around both technologies. You just can’t give them up,” he said.
Currently, many Korean materials companies are globally gaining traction and Galinat, with a 40-year career in materials under his belt, provided some advice.
“In order to be a big player or a strong player in the market, you need to have global reach, so you must be everywhere your customers are located in all parts of the world,” he said, adding that companies also need the power to stay on top of the technology.
“You also need infrastructure. That means in every country where your customers are located, you should have a facility like the application center because otherwise the time to support your customers and exchange information takes too long.”