Hanwha Solutions is strengthening its high-value-added electronic materials business by domestically producing core display technologies. The company plans to acquire a domestic SME possessing essential technologies for manufacturing OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels, a rapidly growing market, and expand its electronic materials business from its mobile-focused business to the high-growth display sector.

Hanwha Solutions announced on the 29th that it had decided to acquire a 100% stake in WOS, which possesses technology related to FMM (Fine Metal Mask), a key material for OLED panel manufacturing, for 60 billion won at a board meeting.

WOS was established in May of this year through the spin-off of KOSDAQ-listed Wave Electronics' OLED business unit. It began developing FMM technology in 2010 and has completed the development of a new electroplating technology. However, due to funding difficulties, the company is currently unable to actively invest in mass production. Hanwha Solutions plans to leverage the production capabilities it has accumulated through its mobile electronic materials business to establish an FMM mass production system by 2022 and make an additional investment of hundreds of billions of won.

Hanwha Solutions plans to use this acquisition as an opportunity to further accelerate its efforts to increase value-added chemical and electronic materials. In order to increase the value of its materials business, the company has developed high value-added chemical materials such as XDI (optical lens material) and Eco-Dec (eco-friendly plasticizer), and in April, it hired Hwang Jeong-wook, head of the Future Strategy Division (President) from Samsung Electronics, to develop high value-added electronic materials.

CEO Hwang Jeong-wook said, “This acquisition has laid the foundation for entering the OLED market, which is expected to see high growth in the future,” and “We will be able to apply the know-how we have accumulated through supplying mobile circuit materials to global electronics companies for over 10 years to the future mass production of FMM.”

The FMM is a key component in the OLED panel manufacturing process. It is an ultra-thin metal plate densely perforated with tens of millions of micron-sized holes. OLEDs produce images through electrical reactions between red, green, and blue (RGB) organic materials stacked on multiple layers on a substrate. During the OLED production process, the FMM helps ensure that these red, green, and blue organic materials are stacked in the correct positions on the substrate.

WOS's FMM technology is considered advantageous in achieving ultra-high-definition screens compared to Japanese companies that currently dominate the market. While Japanese companies utilize etching, which creates patterns by flowing chemicals onto a metal plate, WOS utilizes electroplating, which draws patterns by running electricity through a metallic solution. The thinner the FMM, the higher the density of RGB organic materials it can stack. Electroplating can make substrates more than 50% thinner than etching.

Currently, Japanese companies hold over 90% of the global FMM market. Domestic display manufacturers also import all of the FMMs needed for panel manufacturing from Japan. Since the Japanese government began restricting exports of key components and materials to Korea in 2019, the domestic display industry has consistently called for the early localization of FMM.

According to market research firm UBI Research, the FMM market is growing at an average of 10% annually, driven by increased sales of OLED-based smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches. Furthermore, with global IT companies increasingly adopting OLED panels in their products, some analysts predict even faster growth in the FMM market.