SK innovation announced a new flexible film named Flexible Cover Window (FCW) at Consumer Electric Show (CES) 2019 which was held on January 8th.

▲ CES 2019

SK innovation started developing polyimide film (Pl) technology that was accumulated through mass-production of related materials since 2006 and recently finished developing products for flexible displays. NASA, which had been focusing a lot on the space aviation industry, ordered Dupont, a private company, to develop it, and after numerous trial and error, polyimide was born. With excellent electrical efficiency, heat resistance, wear resistance, and content resistance, polyimide is used at numerous IT products such as cell phone and LCD. SK innovation also developed functional coating technology HC (Hard-Coating), fingerprinting, and contamination prevention in order to implement flexible displays that need to keep its original form while it is folded and unfolded tens of thousands of times. This led to high levels of bending, strength, and anti-scratch characteristics.

▲ image from SK innovation

SK innovation invested about 40 billion won on a site inside its facilities in Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong Province in the second quarter of this year and is currently constructing a plant to mass-produce FCW with a goal of commercial operation in the second half of next year. It is also considering extending its second plant in consideration of rapid expansion in the future. To respond to the expansion of markets, SK Innovation is planning to finish construction of test plants in early 2019 and participate in the development of foldable displays by display manufacturers after demonstrating FCW.

▲ image from SK innovation

According to Strategy Analytics (SA), a global research company, the market for foldable smartphones, which is used for flexible displays, will expand to 5.5 million units by 2022 and will continue to grow rapidly after that.

Jan. 13. 2019

By Bak Jeong-Heon