The state of Delaware (USA) is investing almost $1 million in DuPont Co.'s efforts to improve the manufacturing of components for lighter, more energy- efficient flat-screen televisions and displays.
The Council on Development Finance on Monday approved DuPont's application for a $920,000 grant from the Delaware Strategic Fund to help the company develop a small prototype manufacturing facility in Newark for organic light-emitting diodes.
DuPont is investing $30 million of its own funds to install equipment at its Stine-Haskell Research Center off Elkton Road in Newark, the state reported.
The project will add 35 full-time jobs, including nine professional workers and 26 engineers and skilled laborers, said Alan Levin, state economic development director.
OLED technology -- a newer form of LEDs -- allows for thinner, lighter, more energy-efficient flat-screen displays. OLEDs naturally illuminate when powered by an electric current. That's different from liquid crystal displays, which dominate the flat-screen television market currently. Those screens require backlighting, which in turn needs more electricity.
OLED technology is already in use in smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S, but DuPont has been working to use the technology on a larger scale, including 55-inch televisions.
The technology allows for displays that deliver vivid color, higher contrast, faster response and a wider viewing angle than traditional liquid crystal displays, said John Richard, global business director of DuPont Displays.
But cost remains a major barrier for creating larger displays, he said.
"The DuPont OLED process technology is expected to enable large- format displays to be produced at a price point that is within reach for the mass consumer market," Richard said.
DuPont may spread out its operations at a number of locations, Levin's office reported. Under the agreement, DuPont is required to maintain the jobs for five years, or the money can be "clawed back."
Although there's no promise that DuPont would build a larger OLED component factory in Delaware later on, making this investment now will put the state in good position to compete for that factory should it come to pass, Levin said.
If this venture is successful, "Delaware and DuPont will reap big rewards down the road," Levin said. DuPont would not comment on longer-range plans.
Paul Gagnon isn't so sure Delaware would be competitive for a production facility.
Most of the manufacturing facilities for display screen components are in Japan, Taiwan, China and South Korea, said Gagnon, director of North America TV research for NPD DisplaySearch, a market research company.
DuPont probably is building the intellectual property that will be used to develop a manufacturing facility somewhere outside the United States.
OLED technology is viewed as a comer. During the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month, Samsung and LG unveiled the first large OLED television sets, Gagnon noted.
They are expected to be expensive -- up to $6,000 apiece, he said. But work like what DuPont is doing could help drive the price down, he said.
DuPont has a licensing agreement with an unidentified Asian company to produce parts for OLED screens. Gagnon said many people in the industry believe that's probably Samsung.
This is DuPont's third award from the state economic development council in the last five years. Pioneer Hi-Bred, DuPont's seed development unit, was awarded a $1.5 million grant last year to build a research and development center.
And E.I. DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions was awarded a $240,000 grant in 2010 to renovate an existing building and buy machinery.
Neither grant has been paid out, as each project has been working to meet its milestones, Levin's office reports.
Contact Aaron Nathans at 324-2786 or anathans@delawareonline.com.
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