Toppan Printing and Taiwan’s Chi Lin Collaborate to Launch Electronic Paper Business Targeting Use in Industry

In March 2011, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. and Chi Lin Technology Co., Ltd., a core company in Taiwan’s Chi Mei Group, reached a basic agreement on a collaboration in electronic paper business targeting industrial applications such as electronic price tags, retail point-of-sale displays and logistics instruction labels.

The alliance agreement includes an investment by Toppan Printing, who will acquire shares in a newly formed Chi Lin subsidiary, Pervasive Displays Inc. Pervasive Displays will develop and sell e-Paper modules for industrial uses. Starting May 1, 2011, Toppan Printing will launch full-scale sales of Pervasive Displays’products into the Japanese market.

Currently, e-Paper displays are used mainly in the expanding e-book reader market. Industry experts anticipate significant growth for e-Paper in industrial applications such as electrical appliance displays, electronic shelf labels and logistics systems for retail, distribution, and medical products. The rising demand for compact e-Paper displays is due to its thin form factor, durability, low power consumption, and environmentally sustainable composition.

Toppan Printing and Pervasive Displays’ collaboration will enable customers to quickly incorporate e-Paper displays into their products. The two companies intend to expand the market for e-Paper by jointly developing e-Paper solutions for applications where low power, high readability and sustainability are high priorities.

Toppan Printing is aiming for sales of 3 billion yen in fiscal 2013 from the business for electronic paper for industry.