Samsung acquista Liquavista: i display flessibili a colori sono sempre più vicini


Elettronica, Nuove tecnologie / sabato, Gennaio 22nd, 2011

Ora è ufficiale. Dopo alcune indiscrezioni di qualche settimana fa arriva la conferma che Samsung ha acquistato la società Liquavista, specializzata nella realizzazione di display con tecnologia “electrowetting”, per intenderci quelli utili per la realizzazione di dispositivi con schermo flessibile e fogli elettronici a colori.

Samsung non ha mai fatto mistero di voler intraprendere con decisione la via dei display flessibili, presentando più volte prototipi di e-paper e schermi OLED flessibili. L’acquisizione di un’azienda come Liquavista non può che accelerare lo sviluppo di questi dispositivi, integrando nuove tecniche di produzione e nuove tecnologie in grado di renderli finalmente reali, combinati all’esperienza storica di Samsung nel settore.

Dopo aver stupito tutti con i bellissimi colori e la definizione degli schermi OLED, Samsung vuole restare il leader del settore realizzando anche questi nuovi schermi rivoluzionari, destinati a cambiare radicalmente il concetto di dispositivi elettronici protatili per come lo conosciamo: schermi flessibili, display trasparenti, trasmissivi e transflettivi e i già citati e-paper a colori, veri e propri fogli multimediali elettronici.

L’azienda coreana sarebbe inoltre avvantaggiata nella realizzazione di display flessibili, in quanto dispone già di numerosissime linee di produzione per schermi LCD, che sarebbero facilmente modificabili ed adattabili alle nuove tecniche, senza cotnare un risparmio netto nei processi di produzione. Non ci resta che attendere dunque. Nel frattempo ecco i due comunicati stampa ufficiali che hanno annunciato l’acquisto:

Liquavista gets acquired by Samsung

Becomes part of biggest display company in the world to realize the full potential of electrowetting display technology

January 20, 2011 – Eindhoven – Today, Liquavista BV., announced that it has been acquired by Samsung Electronics in a buyout of all shares from the past shareholders. Under the terms of this acquisition, Liquavista will be a fully owned affiliate of Samsung Electronics.

“We are thrilled by this event” said Johan Feenstra, Liquavista’s Founder and newly appointed CEO of Liquavista, “the outright acquisition of Liquavista by the largest electronics company in the world is the fulfilment of a strategy dating back to the original spin-out and, confirmation of the disruptive potential that our technology will have in the display market.”

The acquisition has also resulted in a number of changes in Liquavista’s management team. Johan Feenstra has succeeded Guy Demuynck as the company’s CEO .

“In the future, consumers will need products that not only support full color and video but offer readability in all lighting conditions and gives them ultimate freedom and portability.” Johan Feenstra added, “Being part of Samsung, we can all be sure that Electrowetting Display Technology will find its way to the market in the fastest possible time.”


Samsung Acquires Display Technology Provider Liquavista

Investment aims expand leadership in next generation displays for mobile devices

SEOUL, South Korea–Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global technology innovation and digital convergence leader, today announced it has acquired display technology firm Liquavista BV. Samsung completed the acquisition of Liquavista, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in December 2010.

Liquavista, founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the Philips Research Labs, offers a new type of electronic display technology known as electrowetting for applications in e-readers, mobile phones, media players and other mobile devices.

The electrowetting technology, which operates in transmissive, reflective, transparent and transflective modes, enables the creation of displays with bright, colorful images with dramatically reduced power consumption. Offering more than twice the transmittance of LCD technology and able to operate at low frequencies, displays utilizing electrowetting consume just 10 percent of the battery power of existing display technologies.

With the acquisition of Liquavista, Samsung aims to expand its leadership in next generation display technologies by pioneering the application of electrowetting in e-Paper and transparent displays. As electrowetting can be manufactured by modifying existing LCD production lines, Samsung will be able to realize significant synergies through the utilization of existing manufacturing equipment and capabilities.

In e-paper applications, the response time of the electrowetting displays will be more than 70 times faster than that of existing reflective displays, allowing for color videos, which was previously thought impossible. In future, the application of the technology is expected to expand to transparent, transmissive and transflective displays.