American microdisplay manufacturer eMagin Corporation is officially a Samsung Display subsidiary as of October 18. eMagin confirmed the completion of the acquisition by Samsung's display arm this week.
“I know I speak for everyone at eMagin when I say that we are very excited to be teaming with Samsung Display,” said eMagin CEO Andrew G. Sculley. In May, eMagin said the acquisition might happen in H2 2023. Indeed, it has. Samsung completed the merger for $2.08 per share in an all-cash transaction of approximately $218 million.
Following the merger, the President and CEO of Samsung Display said the latter company will ensure eMagin has everything it needs, from scale, platforms, and complementary technologies, to accelerate its growth. “We look forward to helping eMagin achieve its goal of transforming the way the world consumes information.”
What does this mean, exactly? Well, Samsung Display's acquisition of microdisplay manufacturer eMagin has a lot to do with the emerging XR (eXtended Reality) segment.
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Preparing for the next-generation AR/VR solutions
Samsung Display is the biggest OLED panel maker in the world. However, the company is now preparing for the market to evolve and expand into the emerging Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (XR) field. And that's where eMagin comes in.
With Samsung Display's support, the American corporation, eMagin, will achieve its full potential for next-generation XR solutions. The company says that, in the short term, customers will benefit from a higher yield, efficiency, and quality control. In the long run, eMagin is eager to “develop new applications and new markets for our microdisplay technology.”
Editor's Note: Samsung MX (Mobile eXperience) will likely be among the key customers for eMagin and Samsung Display. The phone maker announced earlier this year that it is developing an extended reality (XR) headset in partnership with Google and Qualcomm.
There's no official word on when the Samsung XR headset will be released, but I suspect Apple will be setting the tone for this emerging segment. Samsung supposedly went back to the drawing board earlier this year after Apple unveiled the Vision Pro and redesigned its headset to feature a higher-resolution display.
