Material manufacturer Merck announced it has invested EUR 30 million (US $33.84 million) in an OLED materials plant in Darmstadt, Germany recently to manufacture future displays and lighting.

The new plant is their single largest investment to date.

According to an EE Times report, the German material company aims to raise its production capacity by five times.

The new OLED plant will span 3,600 square meters, and use advanced displays and lighting systems.

Merck is confident that it will emerge as a leading supplier in OLED materials by 2018.

The company will be investing chemical materials required for making OLED displays from a single source.

At the new plant opening ceremony, Walter Galinat, member of the Executive Board of Merck mentioned the company invested in OLED technology fairly early, and is in a good market position.

“This applies to Darmstadt, where our OLED materials are developed and manufactured, and to countries such as Japan, Korea and China, where we operate application labs to work closely with our customers,” added Galinat.

The same EETimes report also noted Merck intends to work on flexible OLED displays, and is working on ultra-thin printable displays that it can use to manufacture flexible or rollable displays, such as those for video walls or windows.