Korean display equipment company YAS is expanding its business with Chinese customers. According to reports on May 27, the company is now supplying evaporation sources for TCL CSOT's new 8.6-generation OLED production line.
These evaporation sources will be installed in the evaporation equipment that YAS already won earlier. The order is estimated to be worth around 10 billion Korean won.
TCL CSOT recently put out a tender for evaporation sources for its 8.6-gen inkjet OLED line - specifically 6 linear sources and 72 point sources. YAS has received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from TCL and is moving forward with the supply.
Last month (April 17), YAS signed a contract with TCL CSOT to provide the main evaporation equipment for mass production. The equipment will be used to make common OLED layers like the electron transport layer (ETL) and electron injection layer (EIL). The contract runs until the end of 2027, though the exact value wasn't disclosed.
Evaporation sources are the key parts inside the equipment that heat and vaporize organic materials in a vacuum to create thin films on the glass substrate. Even though they cost less than the main equipment, they're very important for film quality and uniformity. Plus, since they're consumables, they can bring in steady repeat business.
TCL CSOT's new 8.6-gen line in Guangzhou uses inkjet printing technology, mainly for making large IT panels like those for laptops, tablets, and monitors. While the light-emitting layers are printed with inkjet, many of the common layers still need to be made using traditional vacuum evaporation. That's why they're buying both the equipment and the evaporation sources.
This project is significant for YAS because it's the first time they're supplying both the full evaporation system and its core components for a large 8.6-gen IT OLED line. The company gained valuable experience in large-area OLED equipment through previous collaboration with LG Display.
Thanks to these orders, YAS is expected to see a strong rebound this year. Last year's sales were only 348 billion KRW, but this year they're projected to jump to around 1.7 trillion KRW. The company also plans to build a new Fab5 factory in Paju to increase capacity from 4 trillion to as much as 6 trillion KRW by 2027.
