May 29 2015
Momentum for the OLED lighting sector has remained frustratingly elusive. Nevertheless, industry analyst firm n-tech Research still sees OLED lighting arising to a billion-dollar market by the end of this decade, and topping $2.2 billion by 2022, thanks to steady improvements in the technology, suppliers finally pulling the trigger on capacity expansions, and general illumination markets finally arriving (if late) to the party.
Details of the new report, "OLED Lighting 2015-2022: Reassessing Markets and Momentum " including a downloadable excerpt, are available at: http://ntechresearch.com/market_reports/oled-lighting-2015-2022-reassessing-markets-and-momentum
About the Report:
This latest report from n-tech Research revisits our assumptions and expectations about the evolution of the OLED lighting sector and the challenges still standing between the technology and key end markets: general illumination in offices/commercial buildings and residential lighting, automotive, non-automotive outdoor lighting, designer kits and related products, and large-scale custom installations.
We include eight-year (volume and value) projections, along with an assessment of how OLED lighting can effectively compete with conventional lighting technologies. We also evaluate the regional potential for OLED lighting, and the leading players in the OLED lighting space.
Among the companies discussed in this report: Acuity, Astron Fiamm, Audi, Blackbody, BMW, Corning, Cynora, First-o-Lite, Henkel, Idemitsu Kosan, Konica Minolta, Kaneka, Kateeva, LG Chem, Lumiotec, Merck, Mitsubishi, NEC Lighting, Novaled/Cheil, OLEDWorks, Osram, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sumitomo, Umage, Universal Display, Visionox, WAC Lighting, and WiseChip Semiconductor.
Highlights from the Report:
- Performance parameters for OLED lighting have seen impressive gains. Lifetimes are approaching where they need to be; efficacy may well see increased emphasis now.
- Above all else is the need to reduce costs, primarily through capacity expansions, but suppliers remain overly cautious. Meanwhile familiar areas continue to be addressed: better encapsulation, process optimization, materials utilization, and flexible substrates. New production methods like solution-based processing are improving but probably on a medium-term timeframe.
- OLED lighting for vehicles is still on a timeframe of 2017 arrival, and initially for luxury models. BMW has been most vocal about OLED lighting on that schedule, while Audi also recently tipped plans for an upcoming model due in 2017. We also expect an update shortly about Japanese automakers and OLED lighting. We see automotive OLED lighting slowly emerging as a $42 million market by 2019 and $119 million by 2022.
- What's holding back general illumination markets -- office/commercial lighting especially -- is largely higher costs, while for residential lighting aesthetic appeal (within a consumer's budget) needs to improve as well. OLED lighting has seen some minor success in niche areas though, including medical and architectural/heritage buildings. Acuity's new $199-$299 OLED lighting products now available through Home Depot are enormously important, but more products and vendors and designs are needed to crack these markets.
- n-tech sees both commercial and residential OLED lighting segments on roughly the same trajectory: around $100-$130 million each by 2017, $445-$490 million by 2020, and closing in on $1 billion market values by 2022.
- Large-scale custom installations of OLED lighting will continue to drive the majority of business in the near-term, while also serving to broadly educate what OLED lighting can do. The past year has seen a number of remarkably large OLED lighting installations, including the biggest one by far: Konica Minolta's 15,000-panel project for a Japanese festival.