We talked about the rumors of a new 5.5G OLED plant from Samsung back in January and now Samsung has confirmed that they are indeed setting up a new 5.5G OLED plant. Mass production of larger OLED panels will start in January 2011.

5.5G OLED line
Samsung has confirmed that they’re committed to investing in a new 5.5G (5.5. generation) OLED plant.

A 5.5G OLED plant operates with 1,300 x 1,500mm substrates. Samsung says that they will primarily focus on small size OLED panels for mobile devices on the new plant but the much larger substrates definitely also allows Samsung to manufacture monitor OLED panels and OLED panels for small to medium size OLED-TVs.


Samsung 40” OLED

Samsung also confirms that the plant will be used to manufacture OLED panels for notebooks. And possibly Apple’s second generation iPad that is rumored to feature an OLED panel? 
Industry sources also suggest that the optimal sizes (most effective sizes to cut from the larger substrates) from the 5.5G OLED lines will be 32-inch and 21.5-inch panels.

Equipment installation has been planned for 3Q 2010 and Samsung expect the 5.5G OLED lines to be fully operational and at full capacity starting from January 2011.
The investment requires 866 million Euro.

Samsung are currently using 80 % of their capacity from their 3.5G OLED plant and is in great need of more capacity. The new 5.5G plant should provide Samsung with this as well as better expansion possibilities.

The OLED technology is also considered the best technology for 3D according to Samsung.