Merck opens new OLED materials production plant in Darmstadt
Merck, a leading German science and technology company, announced that it has opened its new production plant for OLED materials in Darmstadt, Germany. After a 14-month construction period, high-purity OLED materials for use in state-of-the-art displays and lighting systems are being produced in the approximately 3600m2 building. With a total investment of around €30M, this is one of the largest single investments Merck has made at the Darmstadt site in recent years. The plant enables a fivefold increase in production capacity and can be started up stepwise. By 2018, Merck aims to be one of the leading suppliers of OLED materials and deliver from a single source all the chemical materials necessary for OLED displays. The company is benefiting from its experience in the liquid crystals business, where it is the global leader. The investment in the new plant is thus in line with Merck’s strategic goal to sustainably secure its leading position in display materials.
“OLED technology has the potential to become the technology of the future for displays and lighting,” said Walter Galinat, CEO Performance Materials and member of the executive board of Merck, at today’s opening ceremony attended by around 200 guests. “We invested considerable resources in OLED technology early on and are excellently positioned. This applies to Darmstadt, where our OLED materials are developed and manufactured, and to countries such as Japan, Korea and China, where we operate application labs to work closely with our customers,” said Galinat.