Apr. 11, 2001

Taiwan's Teco Group signed an agreement with Eastman Kodak Co. this week in Taipei authorizing it to use the U.S. company's technology for making organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays.

Teco, one of the largest electrical and machinery conglomerates in Taiwan, will transfer the technology to its new subsidiary Teci Optronics Corp. to produce the advanced display.

Huang Mao-hsiung, chairman of Teco said that Teco Optronics would pour the equivalent of US$ 91.2 million this year into three new OLED production lines.

OLED displays, in long form called organic-luminescence displays, are rapidly gaining popularity in a range of handheld devices. An industry insider said that there are currently seven firms in Japan and four in Taiwan actively developing OLED products, but none have announce plans to commercially produce the displays.

Teco Optronics plans to produce under-five-inch OLED displays for cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras, and palmtop computing devices in the initial stage. It will later turn out eight-inch TV displays using this technology.

The company expects to break evening the second quarter of 2002 and to begin turning out a profit in the third quarter of that year.