Category: Display Solutions

Magnachip Expands High Frame Rate DDIC Product Line for OLED Smartphone Displays

High Frame Rate OLED DDICs Are Vital to Full-Featured 5G Smartphones

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., July 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip”) (NYSE: MX) announced an expansion of the company’s High Frame Rate (HFR) OLED DDIC product line for smartphones with the introduction of new DDIC products. HFR is a technology that improves the image quality by increasing the number of frames (images) used per second. This is a vital technology for 5G smartphones, as it facilitates a vivid and smooth visual experience for users.

MagnaChip (MX) today announced an expansion of the company’s high frame rate DDIC Product Line for OLED smartphone displays. High frame rate OLED DDICs are vital to full-featured 5G smartphones.

Anticipating the surge in demand for the 5G smartphone market, MagnaChip has launched five HFR OLED smartphone DDIC products to date, following its early start in research and development efforts. In 2018, MagnaChip began development of a 120Hz HFR DDIC for FHD+ OLED smartphone displays and, in 2Q 2019, became the first company in the world to start mass production. All of MagnaChip’s HFR OLED products now support 144Hz for FHD+ displays and 120Hz for QHD+ displays.

In particular, with the recent release of a super small size product with the optimal frame rates of FHD+ at 144Hz and QHD+ at 120Hz, MagnaChip is solidifying its standing among the leaders in the premium OLED DDIC market. MagnaChip’s products are renowned for their robust performance and stability in the market, and MagnaChip has consistently earned design wins with global mobile phone manufacturers promptly after launch.

The growth in the global smartphone market is expected to be driven by the wave of new 5G smartphones from the leading smartphone manufacturers. According to Omdia, a market research firm, global 5G smartphone shipments will reach 200 million units in 2020 and will grow five times to 1 billion units, accounting for 60% of all smartphone shipments in 2023. Recognizing this market momentum, MagnaChip is rapidly expanding its HFR OLED DDIC product line with the new products announced today, and it plans to roll out additional new products in the near future.

“The 5G smartphone industry is booming and with our innovative HFR OLED technologies, we will continue to take the lead in developing high-end smartphone DDICs,” said YJ Kim, Chief Executive Officer of MagnaChip.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The Company provides a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with more than 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 2,950 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com. Information on or accessible through MagnaChip’s website is not a part of, and is not incorporated into, this release.

CONTACTS:

Company was first to begin mass production of OLED DDICs in 2007 and continues to innovate

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., July 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products and a leader in OLED display, announced today the Company has surpassed the 500 million milestone in cumulative shipments of OLED DDICs (Display Driver ICs). OLED display drivers are low-power devices that offer excellent screen resolution with deep and bright colors that do not require a backlight and enable full-screen and thinner smartphones.

MagnaChip first introduced the OLED DDIC in 2003 and began mass production, using the 150- nanometer (nm) process, in 2007. The Company subsequently introduced a 110-nm driver in 2011, 55-nm in 2014, 40-nm in 2017 and a 28-nm in 2019. The Company recently taped out a third 28-nm OLED driver and seventh 40-nm OLED driver. MagnaChip intends to continue to expand the OLED display product line for smartphones and for multiple applications in the consumer, automotive, and industrial sectors. As compared to the 40-nm platform, the 28-nm product line features a reduction in footprint and a reduction in power consumption of more than 20 percent.

“MagnaChip was first to market with an OLED DDIC and we have truly helped fuel the growing adoption of OLED displays,” said YJ Kim, CEO of MagnaChip. “We now have more than 15 years of development and production experience with OLED DDICs and are committed to help meet the expected increased adoption of OLED display drivers for multiple applications across different end markets.”

MagnaChip announced an OLED Ecosystem Initiative earlier this year, and announced partnerships with three industry leaders: ELAN Microelectronics Corp., a leading provider of capacitive touch controller ICs and Melfas Inc. and HiDeep Inc., two world leaders in providing one stop Human Machine Interface (HMI) solutions. Each of these companies will collaborate with MagnaChip to develop and standardize innovative human-interface solutions based upon smart touch, stylus and fingerprint technologies that are suitable for MagnaChip’s industry leading OLED DDIC.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor

MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS:
United States (Investor Relations):
Bruce Entin
Entin Consulting
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:
Mike Newsom
LouVan Communications, Inc.
Tel. +1-617-803-5385
mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:
Chankeun Park
Director of Public Relations
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, announced today that it has launched the 28-nanometer (nm) OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) DDIC (Display Driver IC) for smartphone displays.

The 28nm process is the most advanced process used for manufacturing OLED DDICs today. MagnaChip’s new 28nm OLED DDIC achieves a form factor reduction that is 20 percent smaller than that of the previous 40nm process and is suitable for smartphones and other mobile devices, where small size and thinness are critical factors. In addition, MagnaChip reduced the logic voltage from 1.1V, which was required for the existing 40nm products, to 1.0V, which reduces the current voltage consumption by more than 20 percent and also extends battery life. MagnaChip’s latest 28nm OLED DDIC provides Best-In-Class performance, power and feature with high performance/price value.

With the addition of this new 28nm platform OLED DDIC, MagnaChip now has developed a portfolio of nine advanced platform OLED Display Driver ICs, including one 110nm rigid bezel-less, two 55nm flexible bezel-less and five 40nm rigid bezel-less OLED DDICs. MagnaChip’s product roadmap includes plans to expand the feature set of OLED DDICs to include Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) capabilities.

The 28nm OLED display driver IC also is expected to improve the call quality of smartphones by reducing EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) levels by 20 percent, as compared to existing products based on the 40nm format. The 28nm new OLED driver IC supports various display types such as rigid, flexible, foldable and VR, AR applications. It also maximizes design flexibility for latest full-screen displays, such as bezel-less, hole type displays. This new display driver already has won its first design-in at a leading smartphone manufacturer.

YJ Kim CEO of MagnaChip said: “By launching the 28nm OLED DDIC, we have demonstrated again our world-class technology and expect it will help mobile device manufacturers develop new generations of smaller and more energy-efficient products with crisp displays. Further, MagnaChip plans to extend its DDIC portfolio from current OLED smartphones to the rapidly growing OLED TV, OLED automotive and MicroLED TV applications, as well as foldable smartphones.”

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS:
United States (Investor Relations):
Bruce Entin
Entin Consulting
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:
Mike Newsom
LouVan Communications, Inc.
Tel. +1-617-803-5385
mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:
Chankeun Park
Director of Public Relations
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, and Melfas Inc., a leading provider of proven touch controller ICs and touch screen / touch key modules based on capacitive touch sensing technologies, today announced a partnership to develop advanced OLED display capabilities for the automotive and consumer electronics sectors.

Currently, OLED technology is deployed primarily in televisions and mobile products such as smartphones and smartwatches, but OLED displays represent an attractive growth opportunity. Industry forecasters expect the segment to show compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 187% between 2018 and 2022. Accordingly, MagnaChip and Melfas are working towards developing automotive display-related solutions in an effort to respond to this fast-growing market. With their current solutions, the two companies will initially address opportunities in consumer electronics and, going forward, will work closely together to develop solutions for OLED displays in automotive.

MagnaChip is the leading independent provider of OLED DDICs, and benefits from long relationships with the top two OLED display panel makers in the world. Further, more than a dozen smartphone OEMs currently use MagnaChip’s OLED DDICs in their smartphone lineups. Over the past 10 years, MagnaChip has shipped more than 400 million OLED DDICs, and developed a broad portfolio of patents related to the design and manufacturing of OLED display drivers.

Melfas has many years of technical experience and expertise in touch controller IC. Backed by its strong expertise in the field, Melfas has been constantly offering precise, responsive, and reliable touch solutions for highly innovative and dynamic smartphones and other mobile devices. It has shipped over 1 billion controller ICs since 2005. Further, Melfas recently launched a new OLED touch controller IC and has since supplied the same in large quantities to major handset manufacturers.

“Automotive display is an attractive market segment, and this partnership with Melfas will provide opportunities to develop feature-rich and cost-effective products,” said YJ Kim, Chief Executive Officer of MagnaChip.

About Melfas Inc.
MELFAS Inc. is a company that has built expertise in touch solutions. Melfas develops and supplies the world best touch controller ICs and touchscreen / touch key modules based on the capacitive touch sensing technologies Melfas has acquired for more than a decade. Capacitive touch sensing technology recognizes input location and movement by sensing capacitance variation generated in touchscreen module by a fingertip or stylus. When this technology is applied to touchscreen display, it produces excellent results such as multi-touch recognition, soft gesture recognition, outstanding durability and high light transmissivity; all these strengths are widely acknowledged. Capacitive touch solutions provided by MELFAS are materialized in the form of touchscreen or touch key for various products, including smartphone, feature phone, tablet PC, monitor, digital camera, MP3 player, and PMP. The areas of application are rapidly expanding.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visithttps://www.magnachip.com/ www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS

MagnaChip:
United States (Investor Relations):
Bruce Entin
Entin Consulting
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:
LouVan Communications, Inc.
Mike Newsom
Tel. +1-617-803-5385
mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:
Director of Public Relations
Chankeun Park
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

Melfas Inc:
Youngho Seo
Tel. +82-70-4055-6017
youngho.seo@melfas.com

MagnaChip and HiDeep Inc. to Combine Advanced OLED Display and UX / UI Technologies to Create Innovative and Lower-Cost Designs

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, and HiDeep Inc., a leading one stop Human Machine Interface (HMI) solutions provider, which offers HMI sensor hardware, semiconductors, and software including UX and UI capabilities, today announced a partnership to develop advanced OLED display capabilities for manufacturers of smartphones and other handheld consumer electronics.

MagnaChip will cooperate with HiDeep to develop enhanced HMI solutions optimized for the growing OLED display market. Specifically, MagnaChip and HiDeep will collaborate and create useful and cost-effective new HMI solutions for flexible OLED displays for top tier panel makers and smartphone OEMs. This collaboration also will extend into a variety of other applications and end markets.

MagnaChip is the leading independent provider of OLED DDICs, and benefits from long relationships with the top two display panel makers in the world. Further, more than a dozen smartphone OEMs currently use MagnaChip’s OLED DDICs in their smartphone lineups. Over the past 10 years, MagnaChip has shipped more than 400 million OLED DDICs and developed a broad portfolio of patents related to the design and manufacturing of OLED display drivers.

HiDeep is a leading provider of HMI solutions. HiDeep’s products include 2D touch solutions for on-cell flexible OLED displays for smartphones and tablets, 3D force touch solutions for smartphones and other applications, passive stylus solutions including palm-rejection capabilities for leading tablet and for educational OEMs, and active stylus solutions for tablets including the world’s first single chip solution to support MPP2.0 and USI 1.0 protocols. HiDeep is one of the few vendors worldwide to have shipped in volume 3D force touch solutions to leading Android smartphone OEMs. HiDeep has developed a large IP portfolio across all its solutions.

“Smartphones featuring OLED displays are expected by industry forecasters to account for about half of the market by 2021, and that growth from about 30% in 2018 will provide development opportunities for our partnership with HiDeep,” said YJ Kim, Chief Executive Officer of MagnaChip. “For example, HiDeep is a provider of HMI Technology for smartphones and we believe HiDeep’s advanced IC technology can work with our leading DDIC technology to create interesting new human machine interface capabilities for OLED displays.”

About HiDeep Inc.
HiDeep, Inc., founded in April 2010, is a leading one stop HMI solutions provider, which offers HMI sensor hardware, semiconductors, and software including UX and UI capabilities, for smartphones and tablets. HiDeep provides a complete one-stop solution for Android smartphone OEMs to easily integrate HiDeep’s game-changing 3D force touch technology into their products. HiDeep’s offerings include 2D/3D controller chips integrated with patented algorithms, capacitive sensors to detect pressure levels, and comprehensive design & production expertise.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS

MagnaChip:
United States (Investor Relations):
Bruce Entin
Entin Consulting
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:
Mike Newsom
LouVan Communications, Inc.
Tel. +1-617-803-5385
mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:
Chankeun Park
Director of Public Relations
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

HiDeep Inc.:
United States:
Deepak Chugh
Global Alliances & Partnerships
Tel. +1-971-226-7700
Deepak.chugh@hideep.com

Korea / Asia media:
Edward Bach
Vice President
Tel. +82-10-5245-6034
edward.bach@hideep.com