This is a sponsored post by QNA Technology
Cost and performance could make QDEL technology a real competitor to OLED. A potential scenario? Notebooks will adopt it first, followed by TVs and perhaps smartphones. Implementing this technology is relatively straightforward, provided blue quantum dots help the industry achieve its desired lifespan goals. This is an opportunity for Europe, which has blue quantum dots know-how and product at home (QNA Technology, Poland).
Low-Cost Production, High Performance
Quantum-Dot Electroluminescence (QDEL) represents a major evolution in emissive display technology, relying on electrically stimulated quantum dots (QDs) rather than photoluminescent down-conversion. QDEL’s core advantage lies in its solution-processed manufacturing—using coating, lithography, etching (C+L+E), or inkjet printing (IJP)—instead of vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE), which dominates OLED fabrication.
This eliminates one of the most capital-intensive aspects of OLED front-plane production, especially as new Gen 8.6–8.7 fabs multiply cost by ~4.5× compared to Gen 6. QDEL therefore offers a pathway for LCD manufacturers to convert existing oxide or LTPS lines into emissive fabs for under $500 million per 30 k sheets/month, drastically lowering capex and democratizing entry into premium emissive markets.
The Race for the Future of Displays: Asia vs. Europe
Several major display makers are now investing in different versions of QDEL technology. Sharp, TCL CSOT, Samsung Display (SDC), and BOE are the main companies driving QDEL forward, each focusing on different products. TCL CSOT is working on QDEL for laptops and tablets, using inkjet printing as its main production method. Sharp is looking at QDEL for car displays, augmented reality (AR) devices, and specialized industrial screens. Samsung Display may use QDEL as a cheaper and more efficient follow-up to its current QD-OLED TV line. BOE and LG Display are studying how QDEL could be used in their next-generation large-area fabs for TVs and IT products (Gen 8 and beyond).
Experts predict that QDEL displays could reach between 5 and 30 million square meters of production over the next decade, generating up to $35 billion in sales — close to today’s OLED market size. The biggest technical challenge is improving the lifetime of blue emitters; once that issue is solved, companies could quickly adapt their existing factories to make QDEL panels. The supply of QDEL materials should not limit growth, since the inks can be produced by third-party manufacturers.
Because QDEL can be made with simpler and cheaper production tools, it also gives new players — including display manufacturers in emerging markets — a chance to enter the high-end emissive display industry at a lower cost.
This is also an opportunity to strengthen Europe's position in the QDEL supply chain, especially since, in the heart of the continent, in Poland, blue quantum dot technology is being developed by QNA Technology, one of the three leading companies in the world working on this material. Effective collaboration with display manufacturers could help accelerate the commercialization of next-generation displays.
QNA Technology – blue dots from the heart of Europe
You can read more about the forecasts for the QDEL technology-based displays market in the latest article published in "Information Display":