EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1005284
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 1005284_10-K_2022_0000950170-22-001770.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Our Company
We are a leader in the research, development and commercialization of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies and materials for use in display and solid-state lighting applications. OLEDs are thin, lightweight and power-efficient solid-state devices that emit light that can be manufactured on both flexible and rigid substrates, making them highly suitable for use in full-color displays and as lighting products. OLED displays are capturing a growing share of the display market, especially in the mobile phone, television, wearable, tablet, notebook and personal computer, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), portable media device and automotive markets. We believe that this is because OLEDs offer potential advantages over competing display technologies with respect to power efficiency, contrast ratio, viewing angle, video response time, form factor and manufacturing cost. We also believe that OLED lighting products have the potential to replace many existing light sources in the future because of their high-power efficiency, excellent color rendering index, low operating temperature and novel form factor. Our technology leadership, our current intellectual property position, and our more than 20 years of experience working closely with leading OLED display manufacturers are some of the competitive advantages that should enable us to continue to share in the revenues from OLED displays and lighting products as they gain wider acceptance.
Our primary business strategy is to (1) develop new OLED materials and sell existing and new materials to product manufacturers for display applications, such as mobile phones, televisions, wearables, tablets, portable media devices, notebook computers, personal computers and automotive applications, and specialty and general lighting products; and (2) further develop and either license or otherwise commercialize our proprietary OLED material, device design and manufacturing technologies to those manufacturers. We have established a significant portfolio of proprietary OLED technologies and materials, primarily through our internal research and development efforts and acquisitions of patents and patent applications, as well as maintaining long-standing, and establishing new relationships with world-class universities, research institutions and strategic manufacturing partnerships. We currently own, exclusively license or have the sole right to sublicense more than 5,500 patents issued and pending worldwide.
We manufacture and sell our proprietary OLED materials to customers for evaluation and use in commercial OLED products. We also enter into agreements with manufacturers of OLED display and lighting products under which we grant them licenses to practice under our patents and to use our proprietary know-how. At the same time, we work with these and other companies that are evaluating our OLED material, device design and manufacturing technologies for possible use in commercial OLED display and lighting products.
Market Overview
The Display Panel Market
Thin, energy-efficient display panels that can be manufactured on glass or flexible substrates are essential for a wide variety of portable consumer electronics products, such as mobile phones, AR/VR headsets, digital cameras, wearables, tablets and notebook computers. Due to their narrow profile and light weight, flat panel displays are the display of choice for larger product applications, such as computer monitors and televisions.
Liquid crystal displays, or LCDs, continue to dominate the flat panel display market. However, we believe that OLED displays are an attractive alternative to LCDs, and OLED displays are gaining market share, because they offer a number of potential advantages, including:
•higher power efficiencies, thereby reducing energy consumption;
•a thinner profile and lighter weight;
•higher contrast ratios, leading to sharper picture images and graphics;
•wider viewing angles;
•deposition on non-rigid substrates which enable conformable and flexible displays;
•faster response times for video and gaming; and
•lower cost manufacturing methods and materials.
Based on these characteristics, product manufacturers have adopted small-area OLED displays for use in a wide variety of electronic devices, such as smartphones, wearables and tablets. Manufacturers are increasingly commercializing large-area OLED displays for use in televisions. We believe that if these efforts are successful, they could result in sizeable markets for OLED displays.
Organic materials make technically possible the development of flexible displays for use in an entirely new array of product applications. Such applications include display devices that fold in use, or conform to various shapes for wearable, rollable, industrial and ruggedized applications. In addition, due to the inherent transparency of the organic materials and transparent electrode technologies, OLEDs eventually may enable the production of transparent displays for use in products such as automotive windshields and windows with embedded displays.
The Solid-State Lighting Market
Traditional incandescent light bulbs are inefficient because they convert only about 5% of the energy they consume into visible light, with the rest emerging as heat. Fluorescent lamps use excited gases, or plasmas, to achieve a higher energy conversion efficiency of about 20%. However, the color rendering index of most fluorescent lamps - in other words, the quality of their color compared to an ideal light source - is inferior to that of an incandescent bulb. Fluorescent lamps also pose environmental concerns because they typically contain mercury.
Solid-state lighting relies on the direct conversion of electricity to visible light using semiconductor materials. By avoiding the heat and plasma-producing processes of incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps, respectively, solid-state lighting products can have substantially higher energy conversion efficiencies.
There are currently two basic types of solid-state lighting devices: inorganic light emitting diodes, or LEDs, and OLEDs. Current LEDs are very small in size (about one square millimeter) and are extremely bright. Having been developed about 25 years before OLEDs, LEDs are already widely employed in a variety of lighting products, such as traffic lights, digital signage and billboards, replacements for incandescent lighting, backlights for smartphones, computer monitors and televisions, and as border or accent lighting. However, most commercial LED offerings are characterized by high operating temperatures and intense brightness which may make them less desirable for many lighting applications.
OLEDs, on the other hand, can be designed to provide improved lighting characteristics because they can be larger in size and can be viewed directly, without using diffusers that are required to temper the intense brightness of LEDs. OLEDs can be fabricated onto any suitable surface, including glass, plastic or metal foil, and could be cost-effective to manufacture in high volume. Given these characteristics, product manufacturers are working on and have introduced limited product applications of OLEDs for diffuse specialty lighting applications and ultimately general illumination. If these efforts are successful, we believe that OLED lighting products could begin to be used for applications currently addressed by other existing lighting technologies, as well as for new applications that take advantage of the OLED form factor. In particular, the ability of OLED technology to produce uniform illumination over arbitrary shapes is making OLED lighting very attractive to the automobile industry as well as the digital signage industry.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe that we currently are one of the leading technology developers in the OLED industry because we were the first company to develop and commercialize PHOLED emitter technology. Our experienced management and research teams have built an extensive intellectual property portfolio around our OLED technologies and materials, particularly with regard to PHOLED emitter materials, which we continually seek to enhance and grow. We work diligently, through the delivery of high-quality commercial products, superior technical support and customer service, to enable our industry-leading customers, which primarily are large display manufacturers, to adopt our OLED technologies and materials through implementation of long-term commercial material supply and patent and know-how license agreements. Our key competitive strengths include:
Technology Leadership
We are a recognized technology leader in the OLED industry. We, along with world-class academic partners, pioneered the development of our UniversalPHOLED® phosphorescent OLED technologies, which can be used to produce OLEDs that are up to four times more efficient than fluorescent OLEDs and significantly more efficient than current LCDs, which are illuminated using backlights. We believe that our PHOLED technologies and materials will continue to be well-suited for industry usage in the commercial production of OLED displays and lighting products.
Through our internal, innovative research, which has produced the majority of our most critical commercial technologies, our relationships with supplier companies, such as PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG), and our existing and new academic partners, we believe that we can continue to advance the technology we have already developed and commercialized, and that we will continue to discover and develop other important OLED technologies, as well as novel OLED materials, that will facilitate further adoption of our various OLED technologies by product manufacturers. To this end, we operate two state-of-the-art laboratories, or Application Centers, near our larger customers in the Asia-Pacific region. These Application Centers have provided us and our customers with the ability to more quickly evaluate, develop and bring to market our newest OLED materials and technologies. We also are committing significant resources to
further the development of next-generation emissive layer technologies and dry printing technologies such as organic vapor jet printing (OVJP).
Broad Portfolio of Intellectual Property
Generally, each of our commercial offerings is protected by multiple patents which can help us either to prevent or combat the introduction of counterfeit and/or knock-off products that could potentially impact the market demand for our OLED materials and technologies. Our strong patent and non-patented know-how portfolios in the areas of PHOLED emitter materials, complementary PHOLED materials, OLED device designs, and OLED manufacturing technologies are reflective of our continued commitment to innovate and invest. We believe that our extensive portfolio of patents and non-patented know-how provides us with a competitive advantage in the OLED industry.
Through our internal development efforts, acquisitions, and long-standing relationships with academic partners, research institutions and product manufacturers, we own, exclusively license or have the sole right to sublicense more than 5,500 patents issued and pending worldwide. We continue to enhance and grow our OLED technology and materials patent portfolio organically through internal research and development, partnering with third parties, and by acquisition. We also continue to accumulate valuable non-patented technical know-how relating to our OLED technologies and materials.
Leading Supplier of UniversalPHOLED® Emitter Materials and Related Technology Licensing
We are the leading supplier of PHOLED emitter materials to OLED device manufacturers. The emitter material, which is designed to efficiently convert electrical energy to a desired wavelength of light, is the key component in an OLED device. Our manufacturing partner of over 20 years, PPG, continues to manufacture our materials for us, using proprietary manufacturing processes and know-how, which materials we then qualify to our exacting product specifications and resell on a just-in-time basis to OLED device manufacturers. We record revenues based on our sales of these materials to OLED device manufacturers. Our commercial supply agreements typically require our customers to purchase minimum quantities of our materials, which purchases can be in the form of absolute annual minimum purchase obligations or as a minimum percentage of their purchase requirements, or a combination of both.
Our commercial supply arrangements allow us to maintain close technical and business relationships with these OLED device manufacturers purchasing our proprietary materials, and thereby further supports our technology licensing business. We do not directly manufacture or sell OLED display or lighting products. Instead, we enter into non-exclusive licensing arrangements with OLED device manufacturers, many of which also purchase our materials, that pay us fixed license fees and/or running royalties based on their sales of licensed commercial products using our proprietary technology and patents. We believe this business model allows us to concentrate on our core strengths of technology development and innovation, while at the same time provides significant operating leverage. We also believe that this approach may reduce potential competitive conflicts with our customers.
Long-Standing Customer Relationships
We have long-standing customer relationships with OLED device manufacturers that are using, or are evaluating for use, our OLED materials in commercial OLED products. We have more than 20 years of experience in working closely with OLED device manufacturers and have provided support to them in their commercialization of OLED technology by delivering customer-specific solutions for red, green, and yellow emitter materials, or dopants.
We have a proven track record of delivering consistent, high-quality OLED material to our customers. We provide just-in-time supply to our customers and serve as a sole source to them for many of our critical materials. We believe that our unparalleled manufacturing partners, namely PPG, our well-established supply chain, our multi-tier quality testing, and our product assurance protocols make us a preferred partner for our customers and for any large-scale OLED display manufacturer that wants to deliver to high-quality international end-customers.
In 2021, our largest customers for our PHOLED materials included Samsung Display Co., Ltd. (SDC), LG Display Co., Ltd. (LG Display), BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. (BOE), Tianma Micro-electronics Co., Ltd. (Tianma), Visionox Technology, Inc. (Visionox), Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. (CSOT), Shenzhen Royale Display Technologies Co. Ltd., Japan Display, Inc., Sharp Corporation, and AU Optronics Corporation (AU Optronics). Other licensed customers of our technology in 2021 included Kaneka Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, and OLEDWorks L.L.C.
Complementary UniversalPHOLED® Host Material Business
In addition to our proprietary UniversalPHOLED® emitter materials, we continue to develop, supply and offer for sale certain of our proprietary phosphorescent host materials to OLED device manufacturers. In addition, we have entered into a number of host
material strategic partnerships through development agreements with OLED material partners that are focused on combining our proprietary PHOLED emitters with hosts and other OLED materials of these companies in order to optimize the performance of our emitters in our customers’ newest product designs. We do not believe that revenue from our host development and third-party collaboration agreements will be significant compared with our emitter business. However, we believe that development and collaborative relationships such as these are important for ensuring the continued success of the OLED industry and the broader adoption of our PHOLED and other OLED technologies in the marketplace.
Experienced Management and Scientific Advisory Team
Our management team has significant experience in developing business models focused on licensing disruptive technologies in high growth industries. The team has strong relationships with, and deep understandings of, our customers and their needs, the commercial marketplace and the OLED industry on the whole. We believe our management team’s experience and long-standing relationships are important to maintaining good and accommodating working relationships with our customers, particularly when we are confronted with challenging technical, regulatory and trade issues given our international reach. In addition, we employ and contract with some of the leading researchers in the industry, and we maintain a long-standing Scientific Advisory Board that includes industry pioneers, namely Professor Stephen R. Forrest of the University of Michigan (Michigan) and Professor Mark E. Thompson of the University of Southern California (USC).
Our Business Strategy
Our current business strategy is to continue to promote and expand our portfolio of OLED technologies and materials for widespread use in OLED displays and lighting products. We generate revenues primarily by selling our proprietary OLED materials and licensing our OLED technologies to display and lighting product manufacturers. We are presently focused on the following steps to implement our business strategy:
Expand Our Collaborative Relationships with Leading Product Manufacturers and Developers
We collaborate and partner with leading manufacturers of displays and lighting products who are commercial licensees of our OLED technologies and purchasers of our OLED materials. We also supply our proprietary OLED materials to manufacturers and developers of OLED displays and lighting products for evaluation and for use in product development and for pre-commercial activities, and we provide technical assistance and support to these manufacturers and developers to foster ongoing relationships and new commercial agreements. We concentrate on working closely with OLED device manufacturers and developers because we believe that the successful incorporation of our technologies and materials into commercial products is critical to their widespread adoption.
Enhance Our Existing Portfolio of PHOLED Technologies and Materials
We believe that a strong portfolio of proprietary OLED technologies and materials for both displays and lighting products is critical to our continued success, particularly as the utilization of PHOLED technologies and materials expands in the marketplace. Consequently, we are continually seeking to expand this portfolio through our internal development efforts, our collaborative relationships with existing and new academic and other research partners, and other strategic opportunities, such as funding early-stage startup companies whose technology may be synergistic to ours. Since the acquisition of the early fundamental research developed by our initial academic partners in the late 1990’s, one of our primary goals has been and continues to be the development of new and improved PHOLED technologies and materials with increased efficiencies, enhanced color gamut and extended lifetimes, which are compatible with different manufacturing methods, so that they can be used by various manufacturers in a broad array of OLED display and lighting products.
Develop Next-Generation Organic Technologies
We continue to conduct research and development activities relating to next-generation OLED technologies for both displays and lighting products, including next generation emissive layer technologies and dry printing technologies such as OVJP, which we discuss in more detail below. We also are funding research by existing and new academic partners and research institutions on the use of OLED related technologies in other applications. Our focus on next-generation technologies is designed to enable us to maintain our position as a leading provider of OLED and other organic electronics technologies and materials as new markets emerge.
Business and Geographic Markets
We derive revenue from the following:
•sales of OLED materials for evaluation, development and commercial manufacturing;
•intellectual property and technology licensing;
•technology development and support, including third-party collaboration efforts and providing support to third parties for commercialization of their OLED products; and
•contract research services in the areas of chemical materials synthesis research, development and commercialization for non-OLED applications.
Most manufacturers of displays and lighting products who are or might potentially be interested in our OLED technologies and materials are currently located outside of the United States, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. To provide on-the-ground support to these manufacturers, we have established wholly-owned subsidiaries in Ireland, Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong, as well as a representative office in Taiwan. In 2019, we also completed the construction of new Application Centers in Hong Kong and Seoul, Korea, which allow our Asia-based display manufacturers to evaluate our technology more quickly and incorporate the technology into their commercial designs. Our wholly-owned subsidiary formed under the laws of the Republic of Ireland, UDC Ireland Ltd. (UDC Ireland), is responsible for all material sales worldwide (excluding the United States) and for licensing and managing intellectual property and undertaking certain other business transactions in all non-U.S. territories.
In 2021, we received a majority of our revenue from three customers domiciled in the Asia-Pacific region, BOE, LG Display and SDC, each of which had revenue in excess of 10% of our consolidated revenue. Our business is heavily dependent on our relationships with these customers. Substantially all revenue derived from our customers is denominated in U.S. dollars.
We generally enter into long-term agreements with our customers, which may include (1) a commercial supply agreement for the purchase of specific OLED materials, and (2) patent and know-how license agreements that relate to the manufacture of display and lighting devices. Generally, our commercial material supply agreements provide for multi-year purchase commitments, typically on a price per gram basis, which entitle our customers to certain discounts, technical support on the use of our OLED materials in mass production facilities, and access to certain future OLED materials. In order to secure preferential pricing and technology access, a customer typically agrees to certain minimum purchase obligations which can be in the form of absolute annual minimum purchase obligations or a percentage of their purchase requirements, or a combination of both. If a customer does not meet its minimum purchase obligations, generally we would have the right to review pricing for future material sales and impose other financial penalties.
Our patent and know-how license agreements generally are made available to our customers for the manufacture of OLED devices. In addition, we also may license to certain material company partners the right to manufacture certain OLED materials that are complementary to our phosphorescent emitter materials. These licenses have included licenses to make host products and certain other non-phosphorescent materials. We believe it is in our, and our customers’ best interests to facilitate the development of materials that are complementary to our offerings and which assist our customers to produce more efficient and manufacturable devices with our materials. These collaboration efforts are likely to generate additional licensing fees for us under our license agreements. Although our customers generally pay us fixed license fees and/or running royalties for OLED licensed products that they manufacture, our material partner licensees generally pay us a portion of their sales for materials that are developed under material collaboration agreements and subsequently commercialized. To date, these material collaboration arrangements have not generated significant revenues for us.
For more information on our revenues, costs and expenses associated with our business, as well as a breakdown of revenues from North America and foreign sources, please see our Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto, as well as “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” included elsewhere in this report.
Our Technology and its Relation to OLED Technology and Structure
OLED devices are solid-state semiconductor devices made from thin films of organic material that emit light of various wavelengths when electricity is selectively applied to the emissive layer of the device. OLED devices are typically referred to as incorporating an “OLED stack.” OLED stacks vary in specific structure but those commonly used today may include a cathode, an electron injection layer, an electron transport layer, an emissive layer, a hole transport layer, a hole injection layer and an anode, all of which are placed on a substrate which may be made of a number of different materials, including glass, plastic and metal.
Our technology and materials are most commonly utilized in the emissive layer; the materials in the emissive layer are the light-generating component of the OLED stack. Many of our key technologies relate primarily to phosphorescent emitter materials, which we believe are more energy efficient than fluorescent emitter materials that can also be used to generate light within the emissive layer of
the OLED device. We began selling emitter materials commercially in 2003. A manufacturer will use a small amount of emitter material for each device through a process called “doping” into a host material. The emitter material(s) and the host material(s) together form an emissive layer system. Depending on the nature of the OLED device, the emissive materials and emissive layer system may be designed to emit different colors. We have commercially produced and sold phosphorescent emitter materials that produce red, yellow, green and light-blue light, which are combined in various ways for the display and lighting markets.
Our current materials business, conducted outside the United States by UDC Ireland, is focused primarily on the delivery of such emissive materials. We have also developed host materials for the emissive layer and began selling them commercially in 2011. In addition to our materials, which are generally protected by patents covering various molecular structures, we also have system and process patents that cover various fundamentally important aspects of the OLED device, device architectures, use of materials in devices and OLED manufacturing processes. These patents are important to our licensing business because they enable us to provide our business partners important OLED related technologies.
Our PHOLED Technologies
PHOLED technologies utilize specialized materials and device structures that allow OLEDs to emit light through a process known as phosphorescence. Traditional fluorescent OLEDs emit light through an inherently less efficient process. Theory and experiment show that PHOLEDs exhibit device efficiencies up to four times higher than those exhibited by fluorescent OLEDs. Phosphorescence substantially reduces the power requirements of an OLED and is useful in displays for hand-held devices, such as smartphones, where battery power is often a limiting factor.
Phosphorescence is also important for large-area displays such as televisions, where higher device efficiency and lower heat generation may enable longer product lifetimes and increased energy efficiency.
We have a strong intellectual property portfolio surrounding our existing PHOLED technologies and materials for both displays and lighting products which we market under the UniversalPHOLED® brand. We devote a substantial portion of our efforts to developing new and improved proprietary PHOLED materials and device architectures for red, green, yellow, blue and white OLED devices. In 2021, we continued our commercial supply relationships with companies such as BOE, LG Display, SDC, Tianma, CSOT and Visionox to use our PHOLED materials to manufacture OLED displays. In addition, we have worked and continue to work closely with customers evaluating and qualifying our proprietary PHOLED materials for commercial usage in both displays and lighting products, and with other material suppliers to combine our PHOLED emitters with their phosphorescent hosts and other OLED materials.
Our Additional Proprietary OLED Technologies
Our intellectual property, research, development and commercialization efforts also encompass a number of other OLED device and manufacturing technologies, including, but not limited to, the following:
FOLED ™ Flexible OLEDs
We are working on a number of technologies required for the fabrication of OLEDs on flexible substrates. Most other flat panel displays are built on rigid glass substrates. In contrast, FOLEDs are OLEDs built on non-rigid substrates such as plastic or metal foil. This has the potential to enhance durability and enable conformation to certain shapes or repeated bending or flexing. Many OLED smartphone displays are built on plastic substrates including those produced by SDC and LG Display. Several of our customers demonstrated different foldable and rollable FOLED displays at the 2021 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, NV. The commercial introduction of such FOLED product offerings demonstrates the viability of new display product applications, such as portable, roll-up communications televisions, tablets, notebook computers and smartphones, as well as enhance the usefulness of such devices in ruggedized, industrial and wearable computing systems. Manufacturers also may be able to produce FOLEDs using more efficient continuous, or roll-to-roll, processing methods in the future. Our internal research and development efforts are expected to enhance and promote the future adoption of consumer and industrial FOLED devices.
OVJP® Organic Vapor Jet Printing
OLEDs could be manufactured using other processes as well, including OVJP. As a direct printing technique, OVJP technology has the potential to offer high deposition rates for large-area OLEDs. In addition, OVJP technology reduces OLED material waste associated with use of a shadow mask (i.e., the waste of material that deposits on the shadow mask itself when fabricating an OLED). By comparison to inkjet printing, an OVJP process does not use liquid solvents and therefore the OLED materials utilized are not limited by their viscosity or solvent solubility. OVJP also avoids generation of solvent wastes and eliminates the additional step of removing residual solvent from the OLED device. In 2019, we installed a new red-green-blue OVJP pilot tool at our Ewing, New Jersey facility, and we continue to collaborate on OVJP technology development with Professor Forrest of Michigan. In June 2020, a wholly-owned
subsidiary, OVJP Corporation (OVJP Corp), was formed as a Delaware corporation. Based in California, OVJP Corp was founded to advance the commercialization of our proprietary OVJP technology. As of December 31, 2021, OVJP employed a team of 25 research, mechanical, electrical and software engineers and laboratory technicians. We believe the successful implementation of the OVJP technology has the potential to increase the addressable market for large-size OLED panels while also serving another potential growth market for our proprietary PHOLED materials and technologies.
Our Strategic Relationships with Product Manufacturers
We have established early-stage evaluation programs, development and pre-commercial programs, and commercial arrangements with a substantial number of manufacturers or potential manufacturers of OLED display and lighting products. Many of these relationships are directed towards tailoring our proprietary OLED technologies and materials for use by individual manufacturers. Our ultimate objective is to license our OLED technologies and sell our OLED materials to these manufacturers for their commercial production of OLED products.
Relationships with OLED Display Manufacturers
We license our OLED technologies and patents to display manufacturers for use in commercial products and supply our proprietary OLED materials to these manufacturers for both commercial use and evaluative purposes. We have been collaborating with some of these display manufacturers for over 20 years.
We have been working with SDC and providing our PHOLED materials to SDC for evaluation since 2001. Under the terms of a 2011 patent license agreement, we licensed our patents and technologies to SDC for its manufacture and sale of AMOLED display products. Under the terms of a 2011 supplemental purchase agreement, we supplied our proprietary PHOLED materials to SDC for its use in manufacturing licensed products. We also continue to supply SDC with our proprietary UniversalPHOLED materials for use in its development efforts under a 2001 joint development agreement.
The 2011 license and purchase agreements with SDC expired on December 31, 2017, and on February 13, 2018, we entered into new patent license and supplemental purchase agreements, both with an effective date of January 1, 2018. These agreements, which cover the manufacture and sale of specified OLED display materials, last through the end of 2022 with an additional two-year extension option. Under these agreements, we are being paid a license fee, payable in quarterly installments over the agreement term of five years. These agreements convey to SDC the non-exclusive right to use certain of our intellectual property assets for a limited period of time that is less than the estimated life of the assets. The 2018 supplemental purchase agreement provides for minimum annual purchase obligations of phosphorescent emitter material from us for use in the manufacture of licensed products. The minimum commitment is subject to SDC's requirements for phosphorescent emitter materials and our ability to meet these requirements over the term of the supplemental agreement. SDC is currently the largest manufacturer of AMOLED displays for smartphones and other personal electronic devices and produces displays for a number of different smartphone and electronic device manufacturers.
We have been working with LG Display and its affiliates for over 15 years. In 2015, we entered into an OLED patent license agreement and an OLED commercial supply agreement with LG Display which were effective as of January 1, 2015 and superseded the existing 2007 commercial supply agreement between the parties. The new agreements were set to expire by the end of 2022. The patent license agreement provides LG Display a non-exclusive, royalty bearing portfolio license to make and sell OLED displays under our patent portfolio. The patent license agreement calls for license fees, prepaid royalties and running royalties on licensed products. The agreements include customary provisions relating to warranties, indemnities, confidentiality, assignability and business terms. The agreements provide for certain other minimum obligations relating to the volume of material sales anticipated over the life of the agreements as well as minimum royalty revenue to be generated under the patent license agreement. We generate revenue under these agreements that are predominantly tied to LG Display’s sales of OLED licensed products. The OLED commercial supply agreement provides for the sales of materials for use by LG Display, which may include phosphorescent emitters and host materials.
In 2021, we entered into amendments of the 2015 OLED patent license agreement and the 2015 OLED commercial supply agreement with LG Display, which amendments were effective as of January 1, 2021. The amended agreements included a term extension and are set to expire by the end of 2025. LG Display is currently the largest manufacturer of AMOLED displays for large-area televisions and produces display panels for a number of different television manufacturers.
In 2016, we entered into long-term, multi-year OLED patent license and material purchase agreements with Tianma. Under the license agreement, we have granted Tianma non-exclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by us to manufacture and sell OLED display products. The license agreement calls for license fees and running royalties on licensed products. Additionally, we supply phosphorescent OLED materials to Tianma for use in its licensed products. In 2021, we mutually agreed to extend the terms of both the patent license and material purchase agreements for an additional multi-year term.
In 2017, we entered into long-term, multi-year agreements with BOE. Under these agreements, we have granted BOE non-exclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by us to manufacture and sell OLED display products. We also supply phosphorescent OLED materials to BOE for use in its licensed products.
In 2018, we entered into long-term, multi-year OLED patent license and material purchase agreements with Visionox. Under the license agreement, we have granted certain of Visionox's affiliates a non-exclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by us to manufacture and sell OLED display products. The license agreement calls for license fees and running royalties on licensed products. Additionally, we supply phosphorescent OLED materials to Visionox for use in its licensed products. On April 22, 2021, we announced an extension of the Visionox agreement by entering into new five-year OLED material supply and license agreements with a new affiliate of Visionox, Visionox Hefei Technology Co. Ltd.
In 2019, we entered into an evaluation and commercial supply relationship with CSOT. In 2020, we entered into long-term, multi-year agreements with CSOT. Under these agreements, we have granted CSOT non-exclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by us to manufacture and sell OLED display products. We also supply phosphorescent OLED materials to CSOT for use in licensed products.
We have been collaborating with AU Optronics since 2001, and we continue to provide our proprietary PHOLED materials to AU Optronics under a 2016 commercial supply agreement through which AU Optronics also has certain license rights.
We also continue to support numerous display manufacturers in their evaluation of our technologies and proprietary OLED materials, through evaluation arrangements in which we provide our proprietary OLED materials to such manufacturers for limited scale commercial production, evaluation and for purposes of development, manufacturing qualification and product testing. Many of these strategic relationships have been in place for longer than a decade, and we continue to establish new relationships.
Relationships with OLED Lighting Manufacturers
We license our OLED technologies and patents to lighting manufacturers for use in commercial products and supply our proprietary OLED materials to these manufacturers for both commercial use and evaluative purposes. Many of these strategic relationships have also been in place for longer than a decade.
Since 2004, we have been supporting Konica Minolta in its efforts to develop OLED lighting products. We continue to license our patents and technology to Konica Minolta under a 2008 OLED technology license agreement for its manufacture and sale of OLED lighting products that utilize our phosphorescent and other OLED technologies. We also continue to provide Konica Minolta with our proprietary PHOLED materials for its manufacture of commercial OLED lighting products under a 2011 commercial material supply agreement, and for evaluation purposes under a 2012 evaluation agreement.
We also continue to license our OLED patents to Sumitomo under a 2015 OLED patent portfolio license agreement in which we granted Sumitomo a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty bearing license to make and sell OLED lighting panels using a solution-based manufacturing process. Under the license agreement, Sumitomo may also purchase certain of our phosphorescent materials.
We continue to license our OLED patents, and to provide our OLED materials, to OLEDWorks for use in OLED lighting products under patent license and commercial supply agreements signed in 2015. We have also extended the rights under these agreements to OLEDWorks GmbH, the German company and facility that OLEDWorks acquired in 2015 from Philips Technologie GmbH.
We continue to license our technologies and patents to Kaneka for the manufacture and sale of OLED lighting products, under the terms of a 2013 license agreement, and we continue to supply our materials to Kaneka under a 2014 commercial material supply agreement. We also have a license agreement for the manufacture and sale of OLED lighting products with Pioneer, among others.
Similar to our arrangements with display manufacturers, we continue to support numerous lighting manufacturers in their evaluation of our technologies and proprietary OLED materials, typically through evaluation agreements under which we provide our proprietary OLED materials to such manufacturers for evaluation and potential commercial application.
Relationships with Manufacturers for Other Commercial Products
In addition to our relationships with lighting and display manufacturers, we have agreements and arrangements with manufacturers or potential manufacturers to use our proprietary OLED technologies and materials in other commercial products, such as in automotive interiors and exteriors.
Our OLED Materials Manufacturing Business
We supply our proprietary UniversalPHOLED® materials to display manufacturers, lighting manufacturers and others. These materials are produced in batch quantities by PPG to our exacting product specifications using our manufacturing process and know-how. We qualify each batch of emitters at our device qualification facilities to ensure that they meet required specifications, and we store qualified product inventory for delivery to our customers. We believe that our inventory-carrying practices, along with the terms under which we sell our OLED materials (including payment terms), are typical for the markets in which we operate. In 2021, our OLED materials business received recertification in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems. In 2021, UDC’s Ewing, NJ facility also received certification in accordance with ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems. In 2021, UDC’s Ewing, NJ facility received certification in accordance with ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
PPG
We have maintained a close working relationship with PPG since 2000. In 2011, we entered into an agreement with PPG, the term of which, by amendment in February 2021, continues through December 31, 2024 and thereafter is automatically renewed for additional one-year terms, unless terminated by us with prior notice of one year or terminated by PPG with prior notice of two years. Under that agreement, PPG is responsible, under our direction, for manufacturing scale-up of our proprietary OLED materials, and for supplying us with those materials. We use these materials for our own research and development as well as for resale to our customers, both for their evaluation and for use in commercial OLED products. Through our collaboration with PPG, key raw materials are sourced from multiple suppliers to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of our customers on a timely basis. We have not had any issues with obtaining access to adequate amounts of any key raw materials.
In February 2021, we entered into an amendment to the PPG agreement extending the term of the agreement and specifying operation and maintenance services that will be provided by PPG affiliate, PPG SCM Ireland Limited, to UDC Ireland at our new manufacturing site in Shannon, Ireland, currently being leased by a wholly-owned subsidiary of UDC Ireland, OLED Material Manufacturing Limited (OMM), for the production of OLED materials. Facility improvements and regulatory improvements are expected to be completed and operations are scheduled to commence by mid-year 2022. As with the initial agreement with PPG, we will compensate PPG on a cost-plus basis for the services provided at the Shannon manufacturing facility.
Collaborations with Other OLED Material Manufacturers
We continued our non-exclusive collaborative relationships with OLED material manufacturing customers during 2021. Most of these relationships are focused on combining our proprietary PHOLED emitters with hosts and other OLED materials of these companies in an effort to optimize our PHOLED emitter products and deliver a high-performance system to the end customer. Our product manufacturing customers are not required to purchase host materials from us. As a result, we do not believe these collaboration efforts will generate significant revenue for us as compared to our emitter and licensing businesses. We believe, however, that collaborative relationships such as these are important for ensuring success of the OLED industry and broader adoption of our PHOLED and other OLED technologies.
Research and Development
Our research and development activities are focused on the advancement of our OLED technologies and materials for displays, lighting and other applications. We conduct this research and development primarily internally and also through various relationships with commercial business partners, academic partners, and research institutions. Our venture capital company, UDC Ventures LLC, continues to seek to invest in companies that we believe are developing synergistic or complementary technologies to ours.
Internal Development Efforts
Ewing, New Jersey Facility
We conduct a substantial portion of our OLED development activities at our state-of-the-art development and testing facility in Ewing, New Jersey. At this expanded facility, which now exceeds 50,000 square feet, we perform technology development, including device and process optimization, prototype fabrication, manufacturing scale-up studies, process and product testing, characterization and reliability studies, and technology transfer with our business partners.
Our Ewing facility houses multiple OLED deposition systems, including a full-color flexible OLED system and an OVJP system. In addition, the facility contains equipment for substrate patterning, organic material deposition, display packaging, module assembly and extensive testing in Class 100 and 100,000 clean rooms and opto-electronic test laboratories. Our facility also includes state-of-the-art synthetic and analytical chemistry laboratories in which we conduct OLED materials research and make small quantities of new materials that we then test in OLED devices.
Application Centers
In addition to our laboratory facilities in Ewing, New Jersey, in 2019 we completed the construction of new, leased, Application Centers in Hong Kong and Seoul, Korea. These centers, which include state-of-the-art OLED laboratories, better assist our Asia-based customers in their timely evaluation and adoption of our proprietary PHOLED materials, know-how and technologies in their respective PHOLED designs.
Our Contract Research Organization Business: Adesis, Inc.
In 2016, we acquired Adesis, Inc. (Adesis). Adesis is a contract research organization (CRO) that provides support services to the OLED, pharma, biotech, catalysis and other industries. Adesis currently operates in its headquarters facility, which it purchased in 2017 and consists of over 47,500 square feet in New Castle, Delaware and another, leased, over 30,700 square foot facility in Wilmington, Delaware. As of December 31, 2021, Adesis employed a team of 135 research scientists, chemists, engineers and laboratory technicians.
Although we expect to continue to utilize the majority of its technology research capacity for the benefit of our OLED technology development, Adesis is expected to continue operating as a CRO in the above-mentioned industries.
University-Sponsored Research
Original Academic Partners
We have long-standing relationships with Princeton University (Princeton) and USC for the conduct of research relating to our OLED and other organic thin-film technologies and materials for applications such as displays and lighting. This research, subject to an agreement entered into by the parties (as amended, the 1997 Amended License Agreement), generated many of the original fundamental PHOLED concepts and underlying patents that we commercialized, and had been performed at Princeton under the direction of Professor Forrest and at USC under the direction of Professor Thompson. In 2006, Professor Forrest transferred to Michigan, where we continue to fund his research.
Since 2006, in connection with Dr. Forrest’s transfer, we entered into a new sponsored research agreement with USC under which we are funding organic electronics research being conducted by Drs. Forrest and Thompson (the 2006 Research Agreement). Work by Professor Forrest is being funded through a subcontract between USC and Michigan.
The 2006 Research Agreement extends through April 2023 with an option to further extend for an additional two years. We make payments under the 2006 Research Agreement to USC on a quarterly basis as actual expenses are incurred. As of December 31, 2021, we were obligated to pay USC up to $4.3 million for work to be performed during the remaining extended term.
Other Academic Relationships
We entered into a contract research agreement with the Chitose Institute of Science and Technology of Japan (CIST) in 2004. Under that agreement, we funded a research program headed by Professor Chihaya Adachi relating to high-efficiency OLED materials and devices. We were granted exclusive rights to all intellectual property developed under this program. Our relationship with CIST ended in 2006 when Professor Adachi transferred to Kyushu University. However, we have continued our relationship with Professor Adachi under a separate consulting arrangement.
In 2006 and 2007, we entered into one-year research agreements with Kyung Hee University to sponsor research programs on flexible, amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) backplane technology. The programs were directed by Professor Jin Jang. In 2008 and 2009, we entered into contract research agreements with Silicon Display Technology, Ltd. (SDT), a company founded by Professor Jang, and in 2013, we entered into another one-year agreement with SDT. We continue to maintain a good working relationship with Professor Jang.
Over the years, we have also entered into research agreements with various universities and research institutions that have been able to provide tailored research capabilities and insights relating to our PHOLED technology. As the utilization of PHOLED technology continues to expand, we intend to further engage key researchers at other universities and research institutions to help identify additional fundamental technologies that could benefit PHOLED technology implementation.
U.S. Government-Funded Research
In the past, we have entered into U.S. government contracts and subcontracts to fund a portion of our efforts to develop next-generation OLED technologies concentrated primarily in the area of solid-state lighting. On contracts for which we were the prime contractor, we subcontracted portions of the work to various entities and institutions. All of the U.S. government contracts and
subcontracts that we have entered into were subject to termination at the election of the contracting governmental agency. We do not believe that any of these U.S. governmental contracts and subcontracts, or any inventions developed to date under these contracts and subcontracts, are material to our business.
Intellectual Property
Along with our personnel, our primary and most fundamental assets are patents and other intellectual property. This includes more than 5,500 U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications that we own, exclusively license or have the sole right to sublicense. It also includes a substantial body of non-patented technical know-how that we have accumulated over time.
Our Patents
Our research and development activities, conducted both internally and through collaborative programs with third parties, have resulted in our filing of a substantial number of patent applications relating to our OLED technologies and materials. These patents that we own represent, among other things, innovations beyond the original fundamental PHOLED conceptual patents that we license from our university research partners, described below. Although many of these licensed fundamental conceptual patents have expired, our internal research efforts include essential innovations that have generated commercially viable implementations of the original PHOLED concepts and patents.
As of December 31, 2021, we owned more than 5,000 unexpired issued patents and pending patent applications around the world in addition to the hundreds of patents and patent applications we exclusively license from our research partners, as discussed below.
Patents We License from Research Partners
We exclusively license patent rights from a number of university research partners. Generally, we sponsor scientific researchers at universities to undertake pre-defined research programs, and in exchange we receive license rights to patents that may be developed under the programs. As part of these programs, we may provide compensation in the form of support for research program-related activities, reimbursement for patent related costs, as well as providing for some forms of licensing and/or sublicensing fees for licensed technology that is commercialized by us or our customers. We have expanded our sponsored research programs over the past 10 years to include additional scientific researchers at a number of different institutions that we believe can provide breakthroughs in promising new fields of research that may benefit the OLED marketplace. As of December 31, 2021, the patent rights we exclusively license from all our university research partners included more than 650 issued patents and pending patent applications in jurisdictions around the world. Under our university patent license agreements, we are generally free to sublicense to third parties all or any portion of the licensed patent rights for the life of the licensed patents, though our rights are subject to termination for an uncured material breach or default by us, or if we become bankrupt or insolvent.
As part of our university license agreements, we may be required to compensate the universities to the extent we, or our sublicensees, utilize the licensed technology in commercial products. Under the 1997 Amended License Agreement we are required to pay Princeton royalties for licensed products sold by us or our sublicensees. These royalties amount to 3% of the net sales price for licensed products sold by us and 3% of the revenues we receive for licensed patents used by our sublicensees. Princeton shares portions of these royalties with USC and Michigan under their inter-institutional agreements. We owed royalties under the 1997 Amended License Agreement with Princeton of $691,000 for 2021.
Acquired Patents and Other Intellectual Property
From time to time we acquire patents and other intellectual property that we believe provide strategic business opportunities, such as the patent and technology portfolio we acquired from Motorola Solutions, Inc. (f/k/a Motorola, Inc.) (Motorola) in 2011, and the following portfolios from Fujifilm Corporation and BASF:
Patents We Acquired from Fujifilm Corporation
In 2012, we entered into a Patent Sale Agreement (the Fujifilm Agreement) with Fujifilm. Under the Fujifilm Agreement, Fujifilm sold more than 1,200 OLED-related patents and patent applications for a total cost of $109.5 million. The Fujifilm Agreement contains customary representations and warranties and covenants, including respective covenants not to sue by both parties thereto. The Fujifilm Agreement permitted us to assign all of our rights and obligations under the Fujifilm Agreement to our affiliates, and we assigned, prior
to the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Fujifilm Agreement, our rights and obligations to UDC Ireland. The transactions contemplated by the Fujifilm Agreement were consummated on July 26, 2012.
Patents We Acquired from BASF
In 2016, UDC Ireland entered into an IP Transfer Agreement (the BASF Agreement) with BASF. Under the BASF Agreement, BASF sold us more than 500 OLED-related patents and patent applications for a total cost of $96.0 million. The transactions contemplated by the BASF Agreement were consummated on June 28, 2016.
Intellectual Property Developed under Our Government Contracts
We and our subcontractors have developed, and may continue to develop, patentable OLED technology inventions under our various U.S. government contracts and subcontracts, primarily in the area of solid-state lighting. Under these arrangements, we or our subcontractors generally can elect to take title to any patents on these inventions, and to control the manner in which these patents are licensed to third parties. However, the U.S. government reserves rights to these inventions and associated technical data that could restrict our ability to market them to the government for military and other applications, or to third parties for commercial applications. In addition, if the U.S. government determines that we or our subcontractors have not taken effective steps to achieve practical application of these inventions in any field of use in a reasonable time, the government may require that we or our subcontractors license these inventions to third parties in that field of use. We do not believe that our current U.S. governmental contracts and subcontracts, or any inventions developed to date under these contracts and subcontracts, are material to our business.
Non-patented Technical Know-How
We have accumulated, and continue to accumulate, a substantial amount of non-patented technical know-how relating to OLED technologies and materials. Where practicable, we share portions of this information with display manufacturers and other business partners on a confidential basis. We also employ various methods to protect this information from unauthorized use or disclosure, although no such methods can afford complete protection. Moreover, because we derive some of this information and know-how from academic institutions, there is an increased potential for public disclosure. We also cannot prevent the actual independent development of the same or similar information and know-how by third parties.
Competition
The industry in which we operate is highly competitive. We compete against alternative display technologies, in particular LCDs, as well as other OLED technologies. We also compete in the lighting market against incumbent technologies, such as incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, and inorganic LEDs, and against emerging technologies, such as other OLED technologies.
Display Panel Industry Competitors
Numerous domestic and foreign companies have developed or are developing and improving LCD, which includes quantum dot LCDs (which are sometimes referred to as QLEDs), and other display technologies that compete with our OLED display technologies. We believe that OLED display technologies can compete with LCDs, QLEDs and other display technologies for many product applications on the basis of lower power consumption, better contrast ratios, faster video rates, form factor and lower manufacturing cost. However, other companies may succeed in continuing to improve these competing display technologies, or in developing new display technologies, that are superior to OLED display technologies in various respects. We cannot predict the timing or extent to which such improvements or developments may occur.
Lighting Industry Competitors
Although there has been a movement to phase out traditional incandescent bulbs throughout many countries, traditional incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps remain well-entrenched products in the lighting industry. In addition, compact fluorescent lamps and solid-state LEDs have been introduced into the market and would compete with OLED lighting products. LEDs have realized significant market adoption in the general lighting market. Having attributes different from fluorescent lamps and LEDs, OLEDs may compete directly with these products for certain lighting applications. However, manufacturers of LEDs and compact fluorescent lamps may succeed in more broadly adapting their products to various lighting applications, or others may develop competing solid-state lighting technologies that are superior to OLEDs. Again, we cannot predict whether or when this might occur.
OLED Technologies and Materials Competitors
Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) developed and patented the original fluorescent OLED technology in 1987. Cambridge Display Technology, Ltd. (CDT), which was acquired by Sumitomo Chemical Company in 2007, developed and patented polymer OLED technology in 1989. Display and lighting manufacturers, including customers of ours, are engaged in their own OLED research, development and commercialization activities, and have developed and may continue to develop proprietary OLED technologies that are necessary or useful for commercial OLED devices. In addition, other material manufacturers, such as Sumitomo, Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (Idemitsu Kosan), Merck KGaA, Cynora Gmbh and Kyulux Inc., are selling or sampling competing OLED materials to customers, including companies to which we sell our proprietary PHOLED materials.
Our licensing business is based on our control of a broad portfolio of OLED-related device patents and technologies. We believe this portfolio includes fundamental patents in the field of phosphorescent OLED materials and devices, as well as certain additional complementary OLED technologies. As discussed above, alternative technologies, such as fluorescent OLED emitter materials, exist and could be competitive to our phosphorescent OLED material solutions. However, fluorescent materials have characteristics that we believe many market participants consider less desirable than those of phosphorescent materials. Suppliers of fluorescent emitter materials include Doosan Solus, Dow Chemical (previously Gracel Display), Idemitsu Kosan and SFC Co. Ltd. Fluorescent materials may also be viewed as complementary in that they can be used in the same OLED stack as phosphorescent materials.
The competitive landscape with respect to our host materials business is characterized by a larger number of established chemical material suppliers who have long-term relationships with many of our existing customers and licensees. We have elected to partner with certain of these companies to manufacture and deliver host solutions to our customers, as well as selling our host materials directly to device manufacturers. We believe our competitive advantage stems, in part, from our deep knowledge of our phosphorescent emitter materials, which are complementary with the host solutions. We believe that our understanding of phosphorescent emitter materials enables us to create host material solutions that are especially well suited for use with a certain class of emitter materials that are implemented commercially today. However, we note that many of our technology partners have their own host solutions and the competitive landscape includes many well-established companies such as Solus, Advanced Materials Co., Dow Chemical, Duksan Neolux Co., Ltd., Idemitsu Kosan, Merck KGaA, NSCC and Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. These companies have significant resources, and some may aggressively pursue such business in the future.
Our existing business relationships with SDC and other product manufacturers suggest that our OLED technologies and materials, particularly our PHOLED technologies and materials, may achieve a significant level of market penetration in the display and lighting industries. However, others, such as those working to develop thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and micro-LED alternative technologies, may succeed in developing new OLED technologies, materials and alternative solutions that may supplement or be utilized in place of ours. We cannot be sure of the extent to which product manufacturers will adopt and continue to utilize our OLED technologies and materials for the production of commercial displays and lighting products.
Our Venture Capital Business: UDC Ventures LLC
We formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, UDC Ventures LLC, in March 2019, as a corporate venture capital entity that funds companies we believe are developing innovative products and technologies that may be synergistic or complementary to our business and/or business strategies or which may otherwise provide favorable investment opportunities.
Human Capital
As of December 31, 2021, we had 409 active full-time employees and eight part-time employees, none of whom are unionized. Of these employees, 298 are research scientists, engineers and laboratory technicians at our domestic and international facilities. This team includes chemists, physicists, engineers and technicians with physics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and organic/inorganic chemistry backgrounds, and highly-trained theoreticians and experimentalists. We believe that relations with our employees are good.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact lives and businesses around the world. We have taken proactive steps to help protect the health and safety of our employees and maintain business continuity. We have required our workforce to be vaccinated, and a significant majority of our office workers continue to work on a hybrid schedule. Within our production and office areas we have established a number of safety protocols, including face covering and physical distance requirements, enhanced cleaning, encouraging daily self-health checks, and mandatory temperature screening stations managed by health professionals. We have also implemented a coronavirus testing protocol in certain of our offices where the incidence of COVID outbreaks may impact critical operations. As part of that reporting process, we have developed a robust contact tracing program to identify employees who were in close contact with any ill employee in the workplace. All of the actions above are overseen by a Crisis Management Working Group, a multi-functional, multi-discipline team tasked with integrating all aspects of our COVID-19 response.
Our goal is to be a diverse and inclusive company. Guided by our values, we are committed to creating a company where everyone is included and respected, and where we support each other in reaching our full potential. We are committed to diverse representation across all levels of our workforce to reflect the vibrant and thriving diversity of the communities in which we live and work. Women represent 33% of our executive management team, 22% of our leadership (Director level and above) and 23% of our total workforce, as well as 33% of our Board of Directors. We have employees from over 25 countries in our workforce, and we believe that a diverse workforce made up of people with different ideas, strengths, interests and cultural backgrounds drives employee and business success. In 2021 our voluntary turnover rate was 11%, and we had overall employee growth rate of 16%. Additional data, including historical turnover and diversity information, as well as our corporate policies relating to our employee engagement and human capital, are updated on our website www.oled.com, and included in our annual Corporate Responsibility Report.
Our Company History
Our corporation was organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1985. Our business was commenced in 1994 by a company then known as Universal Display Corporation, which had been incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey. In 1995, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours merged into this New Jersey corporation. The surviving corporation in this merger became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ours and changed its name to UDC, Inc. Simultaneously with the consummation of this merger, we changed our name to Universal Display Corporation. UDC, Inc. functions as an operating subsidiary of ours and has certain overlapping officers and directors. We have also formed or acquired other wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Universal Display Corporation Hong Kong, Limited (2008), Universal Display Corporation Korea, Y.H. (2010), Universal Display Corporation Japan GK (2011), UDC Ireland Limited (2012), Universal Display Corporation China, Ltd. (2016), Adesis, Inc. (2016), UDC Ventures LLC (2019), OLED Material Manufacturing Limited (2020), and OVJP Corporation (2020), and we established a representative office in Taiwan (2011).
Our Compliance with Environmental Protection Laws
We are not aware of any material effects that compliance with Federal, State or local environmental protection laws or regulations will have on our business. We have not incurred substantial costs to comply with any environmental protection laws or regulations, and we do not anticipate having to do so in the foreseeable future.
Our Internet Site
Our Internet address is www.oled.com. We make available through our Internet website, free of charge, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such material with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). The SEC maintains a website that contains these reports as well as proxy statements and information regarding issuers who file electronically, with the address www.sec.gov. In addition, we have made available on our Internet website under the heading “Corporate Governance” the charter for the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors, the charter for the Human Capital Committee of our Board of Directors, the charter for the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee of our Board of Directors, our Code of Ethics & Business Conduct for Employees, our Code of Conduct for Directors, and our Corporate Governance Guidelines. We intend to make available on our website any future amendments or waivers to our Code of Ethics & Business Conduct for Employees and our Code of Conduct for Directors. The information on our Internet site is not part of this report.
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
The following table sets forth certain information with respect to our executive officers as of February 23, 2022:
Name
Age
Position
Sherwin I. Seligsohn
Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors
Steven V. Abramson
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Sidney D. Rosenblatt
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, Secretary and Director
Julia J. Brown
Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer
Janice K. Mahon
Senior Vice President of Technology Commercialization and General Manager, Commercial Sales Business
Mauro Premutico
Senior Vice President, Planning and General Manager, Patents and Licensing
Our Board of Directors has appointed these executive officers to hold office until their successors are duly appointed.
Sherwin I. Seligsohn is our Founder and has been the Chairman of our Board of Directors since June 1995. He also served as our Chief Executive Officer from June 1995 through December 2007, and as our President from June 1995 through May 1996. Mr. Seligsohn serves as a Director and the President and Secretary of American Biomimetics Corporation, International Multi-Media Corporation, and Wireless Unified Network Systems Corporation. He was also previously the Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Executive Officer of NanoFlex Power Corporation (formerly known as Global Photonic Energy Corporation) (NanoFlex) until April 2012, when he resigned from his positions at NanoFlex. Since that time, Mr. Seligsohn’s only relationship with NanoFlex is as a shareholder and option holder. From June 1990 to October 1991, Mr. Seligsohn was Chairman Emeritus of InterDigital Communications, Inc. (InterDigital), formerly International Mobile Machines Corporation. He founded InterDigital and from August 1972 to June 1990 served as its Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Seligsohn is a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (“PRISM”) at Princeton University.
Steven V. Abramson is our President and Chief Executive Officer, and has been a member of our Board of Directors since May 1996. Mr. Abramson served as our President and Chief Operating Officer from May 1996 through December 2007. From March 1992 to May 1996, Mr. Abramson was Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary and Treasurer of Roy F. Weston, Inc., a worldwide environmental consulting and engineering firm. From December 1982 to December 1991, Mr. Abramson held various positions at InterDigital, including General Counsel, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Technology Licensing Division.
Sidney D. Rosenblatt is an Executive Vice President and has been our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary since June 1995. He also has been a member of our Board of Directors since May 1996. Mr. Rosenblatt was the owner of S. Zitner Company from August 1990 through August 2010 and served as its President from August 1990 through December 1998. From May 1982 to August 1990, Mr. Rosenblatt served as the Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of InterDigital. Mr. Rosenblatt is on the Board of Managers of the Overbrook School for the Blind and previously served as a member of the Board of Careers through the school’s Culinary Arts Program.
Julia J. Brown, Ph.D. became an Executive Vice President in April 2021, prior to which she served as a Senior Vice President since June 2008. She has been our Chief Technical Officer since June 2002 and joined us in June 1998 as our Vice President of Technology Development. From 1991 to 1998, Dr. Brown was a Research Department Manager at Hughes Research Laboratories where she directed the pilot line production of high-speed Indium Phosphide-based integrated circuits for insertion into advanced airborne radar and satellite communication systems. Dr. Brown received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering/Electrophysics at USC and a B.S.E.E. from Cornell University. Dr. Brown holds a number of distinguished elected awards including Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Fellow of the Society of Information Display (SID), and the National Academy of Engineers (NAE).
Janice K. Mahon became our Senior Vice President, Technology Commercialization and General Manager, Commercial Sales Business in April 2021, and previously served as our Vice President of Technology Commercialization since January 1997, and General Manager of our PHOLED Material Sales Business since January 2007. From 1992 to 1996, Ms. Mahon was Vice President of SAGE Electrochromics, Inc., a thin-film electrochromic technology company, where she oversaw a variety of business development, marketing and finance and administrative activities. From 1984 to 1989, Ms. Mahon was a Vice President and General Manager for Chronar Corporation, a leading developer and manufacturer of amorphous silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels. Prior to that, Ms. Mahon worked as Senior Engineer for the Industrial Chemicals Division of FMC Corporation. Ms. Mahon received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1979, and an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1984. Ms. Mahon was a member of the Technical Council of the FlexTech Alliance from 1997 through 2010, and a member of its Governing Board from 2008 through 2010. Ms. Mahon was a member of the Board of Directors and Marketing Committee Chairperson of the OLED Association from 2009-2014.
Mauro Premutico became our Senior Vice President, Planning and General Manager, Patents and Licensing in April 2021, and previously served as our Vice President of Legal and General Manager of Patents and Licensing since April 2012. Prior to joining us, Mr. Premutico was the Managing Vice President and Chief Patent Counsel for The Walt Disney Company from 2009 to 2012, and Vice President of Intellectual Property and Associate General Counsel for Lenovo Group Ltd. from 2005 to 2009. Mr. Premutico was also Special Counsel at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton from 2002 until 2005 where he served as the co-head of the New York office’s Intellectual Property and Technology Law practice. Mr. Premutico received a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, an M.B.A. from Yale University and a B.S.E.E. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
You should carefully consider the following risks and uncertainties when reading this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following factors, as well as other factors affecting our operating results and financial condition, could cause our actual future results and financial condition to differ materially from those projected.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
If we cannot obtain and maintain appropriate patent and other intellectual property protection for our OLED technologies and materials, our business will suffer.
The value of our OLED technologies and materials is dependent on our ability to secure and maintain appropriate patent and other intellectual property rights protection. Although we own or license many patents respecting our OLED technologies and materials that have already been issued, there can be no assurance that additional patents applied for will be obtained, or that any of these patents, once issued, will afford commercially significant protection for our OLED technologies and materials, or will be found valid if challenged. Also, there is no assurance that we will be successful in defending the validity of our current or future patents in pending and future patent oppositions, invalidation trials, interferences, reexaminations, reissues, or other administrative or court proceedings. Moreover, we have not obtained patent protection for some of our OLED technologies and materials in all foreign countries in which OLED products or materials might be manufactured or sold.
We believe that the strength of our current intellectual property position results primarily from the essential nature of our fundamental patents covering phosphorescent OLED devices and certain materials utilized in these devices. Certain of our existing fundamental phosphorescent OLED patents expired in the United States in 2017 and 2019; and expired in other countries of the world in 2018 and 2020. While we hold a wide range of additional patents and patent applications relating to our commercial OLED materials and technologies whose expiration dates extend (and in the case of patent applications, will extend) beyond 2021, many of which are also of importance in the OLED industry, none may be of an equally essential nature as our original fundamental patents, and therefore our competitive position may be less certain as a result of the expiration of these patents.
We have more than 5,500 issued and pending patents relating to our OLED technologies. There is no assurance that these patents and applications will not be challenged prior to their respective expirations in any of the jurisdictions in which they are utilized, or that if challenged, we will be able to secure sufficient breadth of protection, and monetary and injunctive relief for the violation of our rights to make up for the business harm resulting from such activities. Moreover, there can be no assurance that competitors will not develop or produce competing PHOLED material designs that may be outside of our existing patents. There may also be fundamental new advancements in the field of OLED technology that could enable the commercial use of older and unpatented PHOLED materials or the adoption of new OLED materials that do not require the utilization of our proprietary PHOLED materials to achieve superior performance characteristics.
We may become engaged in litigation to protect or enforce our patent and other intellectual property rights, or in International Trade Commission proceedings to abate the importation of goods that would compete unfairly with those of our licensees. In addition, we are participating in or have participated in, and in the future will likely have to participate in, interference, reissue, or reexamination proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and opposition, nullity or other proceedings before foreign patent offices, with respect to some of our patents or patent applications. All of these actions place our patents and other intellectual property rights at risk and may result in substantial costs to us as well as a diversion of management attention from our business and operations. Moreover, if successful, these actions could result in the loss of patent or other intellectual property rights protection for the key OLED technologies and materials on which our business depends.
We rely, in part, on several non-patented proprietary technologies to operate our business. Others may independently develop the same or similar technologies or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technologies. Furthermore, these parties may obtain patent protection for such technology, inhibiting or preventing us from practicing the technology. To protect our trade secrets, know-how and other non-patented proprietary information, we require employees, consultants, financial advisors and strategic partners to enter into confidentiality agreements. These agreements may not ultimately provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other non-patented proprietary information. In particular, we may not be able to fully or adequately protect our proprietary information as we conduct discussions with potential strategic partners.
Additionally, although we take many measures and implement safeguards to prevent unauthorized use, including by theft and misuse, of our intellectual property and proprietary information, third parties may attempt to obtain, copy, reverse-engineer, use or disclose, illegally or otherwise, such intellectual property and proprietary information. We also may face attempts by others to gain unauthorized access through the Internet to our information technology systems or to our intellectual property, which might be the result of industrial or other espionage or actions by hackers seeking to harm our company or its products. If we are unable to protect the proprietary nature of our intellectual property and proprietary information, it will harm our business.
We or our customers may incur substantial costs or lose important rights as a result of litigation or other proceedings relating to our patent and other intellectual property rights or with respect to our OLED materials business.
There are a number of other companies and organizations that have been issued patents and are filing patent applications relating to OLED technologies and materials, including, without limitation, Kodak (substantially all of whose OLED assets were sold to a group of LG companies in 2009), CDT (acquired by Sumitomo in 2007), Canon, Inc., Semiconductor Energy Laboratories Co., Idemitsu Kosan and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. In addition, some of our customers such as SDC and LG Display have been issued patents and are filing patent applications relating to OLED technologies and materials. As a result, there may be issued patents or pending patent applications of third parties that would be infringed by the use of our OLED technologies or materials, thus subjecting our customers to possible suits for patent infringement in the future. Such lawsuits could result in our customers being liable for damages or require our customers to obtain additional licenses that could increase the cost of their products. This, in turn, could have an adverse effect on our customers’ sales and thus our royalties or material sales revenues, or cause our customers to seek to renegotiate our royalty rates or pricing. In addition, we have agreed to indemnify customers purchasing our OLED materials for commercial usage against certain claims of patent infringement by third parties, as a result of which we may incur substantial legal costs in connection with defending these customers from such claims.
Our licensees may also seek to avoid paying future royalties by attempting to have our patents declared invalid and unenforceable by a court. Our licensees may be more likely to file such declaratory actions in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. (2007), in which the Court found that a licensee need not refuse to pay royalties and commit material breach of the license agreement before bringing an action to declare a licensed U. S. patent invalid and unenforceable.
In addition, we may be required, from time-to-time, to assert our intellectual property rights by instituting legal proceedings against others. We cannot be assured that we will be successful in enforcing our patents in any lawsuits we may commence. Defendants in any litigation we may commence to enforce our patents may attempt to establish that our patents are invalid or are unenforceable. Thus, any patent litigation we commence could lead to a determination that one or more of our patents are invalid or unenforceable. If a third party succeeds in invalidating one or more of our patents, that party and others could compete more effectively against us. Our ability to derive licensing revenues from products or technologies covered by these patents would also be adversely affected.
Whether our customers are defending the assertion of third-party intellectual property rights against their businesses arising as a result of the use of our technology, or we are asserting our own intellectual property rights against others, such litigation can be complex, costly, protracted and highly disruptive to our or our customers’ business operations by diverting the attention and energies of management and key technical personnel. As a result, the pendency or adverse outcome of any intellectual property litigation to which we or our customers are subject could disrupt business operations, require the incurrence of substantial costs and subject us or our customers to significant liabilities, each of which could severely harm our business. Costs associated with these actions are likely to increase as AMOLED products using our PHOLED and other OLED technologies and materials continue to enter the consumer marketplace.
Plaintiffs in intellectual property cases often seek injunctive relief in addition to money damages. Any intellectual property litigation commenced against our customers may force them to take actions that could be harmful to their businesses and thus to revenues, including the halting of sales of products that incorporate or otherwise use our technology or materials.
Furthermore, the measure of damages in intellectual property litigation can be complex and is often subjective or uncertain. If our customers were to be found liable for infringement of proprietary rights of a third party, the amount of damages they might have to pay could be substantial and is difficult to predict. Decreased sales of our customers’ products incorporating our technology or materials would have an adverse effect on our royalty revenues under existing licenses and material sales under our existing sales agreements. Were this to occur, it would likely harm our ability to (i) obtain new licensees which would have an adverse effect on the terms of the royalty arrangements we could enter into with any new licensees, and (ii) sell our UniversalPHOLED® materials to existing and new customers. Moreover, to the extent any third party claims are directed specifically to materials supplied by us to our customers, we may be required to incur significant costs associated with the defense of such claims and potential damages associated with such claims that may be awarded against our customers.
As is commonplace in technology companies, we employ individuals who were previously employed at other technology companies. To the extent our employees are involved in research areas that are similar to those areas in which they were involved at their former employers, we may be subject to claims that such employees or we have, inadvertently or otherwise, used or disclosed the alleged trade secrets or other proprietary information of the former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against such claims. The costs associated with these actions or the loss of rights critical to our or our customers’ businesses could negatively impact our revenues or cause our business to fail.
Recent court decisions in various patent cases may make it more difficult for us to obtain future patents, enforce our patents against third parties or obtain favorable judgments in cases where the patents are enforced.
Recent case law may make it more difficult for patent holders to secure future patents and/or enforce existing patents. For example, in KSR International Co. vs. Teleflex, Inc. (2007), the U.S. Supreme Court mandated a more expansive and flexible approach to determine whether a patent is obvious and invalid. As a result of the less rigid approach to assessing obviousness, defending the validity of or obtaining patents may be more difficult.
Recent court decisions may also impact the enforcement of our patents. For example, we may not be able to enjoin certain third party uses of products or methods covered by our patents following the initial authorized sale, even where those uses are expressly proscribed in an agreement with the buyer. Also, we may face increased difficulty enjoining infringement of our patents. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that an injunction should not automatically issue based on a finding of patent infringement, but should be determined based on a test balancing considerations of the patentee’s interest, the infringer’s interest, and the public’s interest. Obtaining enhanced damages for willful infringement of our patents may also be more difficult even in those cases where we successfully prove a third party has infringed our patents, as a recent case set a more stringent standard for proving willful infringement.
Therefore, as a result of such rulings, it may be more difficult for us to defend our currently issued patents, obtain additional patents in the future or achieve the desired competitive effect even when our patents are enforced. If we are unable to so defend our currently issued patents, or to obtain new patents for any reason, our business would suffer.
Risks Related to Our Business and Operations
If we cannot form and maintain lasting business relationships with OLED product manufacturers, our business strategy will fail.
Our business strategy ultimately depends upon our development and maintenance of commercial licensing and material supply relationships with high-volume manufacturers of OLED products. We have entered into a limited number of such relationships from which most of our material sales and licensing revenue are generated. Our other relationships with product manufacturers currently are limited to technology development and the evaluation of our OLED technologies and materials for possible use in commercial products. Some or all of these relationships may not succeed or, even if they are successful, may not result in the product manufacturers entering into commercial licensing and material supply relationships with us.
Many of our agreements with product manufacturers last for only limited periods of time, such that our relationships with these manufacturers will expire unless they are renewed. These product manufacturers may not agree to renew their relationships with us on a continuing basis or may agree to do so on terms that are less favorable to us. In addition, we regularly continue working with product manufacturers after our existing agreements with them have expired while we are attempting to negotiate contract extensions or new agreements with them. Should our relationships with the various product manufacturers not continue or be renewed on less favorable terms, or if we are not able to identify other product manufacturers and enter into contracts with them, our business may materially suffer.
Our ability to enter into additional commercial licensing and material supply relationships, or to maintain our existing relationships, may depend on our ability to make certain financial or other commitments. We might not be able, for financial or other reasons, to enter into or continue these relationships on commercially acceptable terms, or at all. Failure to do so may cause our business strategy to fail.
If we fail to continue to make advances in our OLED research and development activities, we might not succeed in continuing to commercialize our OLED technologies and materials.
Further advances in our OLED technologies and materials depend, in part, on the success of the research and development work we conduct, both alone and with our research partners. We cannot be certain that this work will yield additional advances in the research and development of these technologies and materials.
Our research and development efforts remain subject to all of the risks associated with the development of new products based on emerging and innovative technologies, including, without limitation, unanticipated technical or other problems and the possible insufficiency of funds for completing development of these products. Technical problems may result in delays and cause us to incur additional expenses that would increase our losses. If we cannot complete research and development of our OLED technologies and materials successfully, or if we experience delays in completing research and development of our OLED technologies and materials for use in potential commercial applications, particularly after incurring significant expenditures, our business may fail.
Conflicts or other problems may arise with our customers or joint development partners, resulting in renegotiation, breach or termination of, or litigation related to, our agreements with them. This would adversely affect our revenues.
Conflicts or other problems could arise between us and our customers or joint development partners, some of which we have made strategic investments in, as to royalty rates, milestone payments or other commercial terms. Similarly, we may disagree with our customers or joint development partners as to which party owns or has the right to commercialize intellectual property that is developed during the course of the relationship or as to other non-commercial terms. If such a conflict were to arise, a customer or joint development partner might attempt to compel renegotiation of certain terms of their agreement or terminate their agreement entirely, and we might lose the royalty revenues, material sales revenues and other benefits of the agreement. Either we or the customer or joint development partner might initiate litigation to determine commercial obligations, establish intellectual property rights or resolve other disputes under the agreement. Such litigation could be costly to us and require substantial attention of management. If we were unsuccessful in such litigation, we could lose the commercial benefits of the agreement, be liable for financial damages and suffer losses of intellectual property or other rights that are the subject of dispute.
If our OLED technologies and materials are not feasible for broad-based product applications, we may not be able to continue to generate revenues sufficient to support ongoing operations.
Our main business strategy is to sell our OLED materials and license our OLED technologies to manufacturers for incorporation into the display and lighting products that they sell. Consequently, our success depends on the ability and willingness of manufacturers to continue to develop, manufacture and sell commercial products integrating our technologies and materials.
Before product manufacturers will agree to expand the use of our OLED technologies and materials for wider scale commercial production, they will likely require us to demonstrate to their satisfaction that our OLED technologies and materials are feasible for broad-based product applications beyond current commercial application, such as smartphones, wearables and television displays. This, in turn, may require additional advances in our technologies and materials, as well as those of others, for applications in a number of areas, including, without limitation, advances with respect to the development of:
•OLED materials with improved lifetimes, efficiencies and color coordinates for larger area full-color OLED displays and general lighting products;
•more robust OLED materials for use in more demanding large-scale manufacturing environments; and
•scalable and cost-effective methods and technologies for the fabrication of large volume OLED materials and products.
We cannot be certain that these advances will occur, and hence our OLED technologies and materials may not be feasible for additional broad-based product applications and expansion.
Even if our OLED materials and technologies are technically feasible, they may not be further adopted by product manufacturers for broad-based product applications.
The potential size, timing and viability of market opportunities targeted by us remain uncertain. Market acceptance of our OLED materials and technologies beyond current product offerings and sales volumes will depend, in part, upon these materials and technologies providing benefits comparable or superior to competing display and lighting technologies at an advantageous cost to manufacturers, and the adoption of products incorporating these technologies by consumers. Many current and potential customers for our OLED technologies utilize and have invested significant resources in competing technologies, and may, therefore, be reluctant to redesign their products or manufacturing processes to incorporate our OLED technologies.
During the entire product development process for a new product, we face the risk that our materials or technologies will fail to meet the manufacturer’s technical, performance or cost requirements or will be replaced by a competing product or alternative technology. Even if we offer materials and technologies that are satisfactory to a product manufacturer, the manufacturer may choose to delay or terminate its product development efforts for reasons unrelated to our materials or technologies. In addition, our agreements with our customers do not require them to purchase our host materials in order to utilize our phosphorescent emitter materials, and those customers may elect not to purchase our host materials.
Mass production of new mass market OLED products will require the availability of suitable manufacturing equipment, components and materials, many of which are available only from a limited number of suppliers. In addition, there may be a number of other technologies that manufacturers need to utilize in conjunction with our OLED technologies in order to bring these new OLED products to the market. Thus, even if our OLED technologies are a viable alternative to competing approaches, if product manufacturers are unable to obtain access to this equipment and these components, materials and other technologies, they may not utilize our OLED technologies.
There are numerous potential alternatives to OLEDs, which may limit our ability to commercialize our OLED technologies and materials.
The display market is currently, and will likely continue to be for some time, dominated by displays based on LCD technology. Numerous companies are making substantial investments in, and conducting research to improve characteristics of, LCDs; additionally, other competing display technologies have been, or are being, developed. A similar situation exists in the solid-state lighting market, which is currently dominated by LED products. Advances in any of these various technologies may overcome their current limitations and permit them to become the leading technologies in their field, either of which could limit the potential market for products utilizing our OLED technologies and materials. This, in turn, would cause product manufacturers to avoid entering into commercial relationships with us, or to terminate or not renew their existing relationships with us.
Other OLED technologies may be more successful or cost-effective than ours, which may limit the commercial adoption of our OLED technologies and materials.
Our competitors have developed and continue to develop OLED technologies that differ from or compete with our OLED technologies. In particular, competing fluorescent and thermally activated delayed fluorescence OLED technology may become a viable alternative to our phosphorescent OLED technology. Moreover, our competitors may succeed in developing new OLED technologies that may become more cost-effective or have fewer limitations than our OLED technologies. If our OLED technologies, and particularly our phosphorescent OLED technology, are unable to continue to capture a substantial portion of the OLED product market, our business strategy may fail.
The consumer electronics industry experiences significant downturns from time to time, any of which may adversely affect the demand for and pricing of our OLED technologies and materials.
Our success depends upon the ability and continuing willingness of our customers to manufacture and sell products utilizing our technologies and materials, specifically our phosphorescent emitters and host materials, and the widespread acceptance of our customers’ products in the consumer marketplace. Any slowdown in the demand for our customers’ products or a decrease in our customers’ use of or demand for our materials would adversely affect our material sales and royalty revenues and thus our business. Our customers’ decrease in the use of or demand for our materials may depend on several factors, including pricing, availability, continued technical improvements and competitive product offerings. The markets for flat panel displays and lighting products are highly competitive. Success in the market for end-user products that may integrate our OLED technologies and materials also depends on factors beyond the control of our customers and us, including the cyclical and seasonal nature of the end-user markets that our customers serve, as well as industry and general economic conditions.
The markets that we hope to penetrate have experienced significant periodic downturns, often in connection with, or in anticipation of, declines in general economic conditions. These downturns have been characterized by lower product demand, production overcapacity and erosion of average selling prices. Our business strategy is dependent on manufacturers building and selling products that incorporate our OLED technologies and materials. Industry-wide fluctuations and downturns in the demand for displays and solid-state lighting products could cause significant harm to our business.
Our customers may develop new or more efficient manufacturing processes, which may adversely affect demand for our OLED materials.
By developing enhanced material processing methods and more efficient manufacturing techniques, our customers who purchase our phosphorescent emitter and host materials could become more efficient in the utilization of our materials by developing designs that require less materials on a per square meter basis, or by modifying their manufacturing process to make more efficient use of our materials, which could limit or reduce the amount of materials they purchase from us. Thus, demand for our materials may not expand in proportion to the number of OLED related products manufactured by our customers, and may result in reduced demand for our materials and technologies relative to our customers' manufacture and sale of products made with such materials.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and we expect it to continue to have, a material adverse effect on our operations and business. Any similar future epidemic or pandemic could also have such an effect.
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy, disrupted consumer spending and global supply chains, and created significant volatility and disruption of financial markets. We expect the COVID-19 pandemic to continue to have an adverse impact on our business and financial performance. The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and financial
performance, including our ability to execute our near-term and long-term business strategies and initiatives in the expected time frame, will depend on future developments, including the duration and severity of the pandemic, which are uncertain and cannot be predicted.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in response to government mandates or recommendations, as well as decisions we have made to protect the health and safety of our employees and communities, we have taken proactive measures to adopt social distancing policies at all of our locations, including a hybrid work from home arrangement, reducing the number of people in our sites at any one time, and suspending employee travel. In the future, we may face closure requirements and other operational restrictions with respect to some or all of our physical locations for prolonged periods of time due to, among other factors, evolving and increasingly stringent governmental restrictions including public health directives, quarantine policies or social distancing measures. In addition, many of our customers may reduce their operations, as demand for their products becomes negatively affected, which would adversely impact our revenues from these customers. As a result, we would expect our financial results to be materially adversely impacted.
In addition, consumer spending generally may also be negatively impacted by general macroeconomic conditions and consumer confidence, including the impact of any recession, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This may negatively impact sales for our customers and may also have an impact on their development of new products.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have implemented a hybrid work from home policy for many of our corporate employees and have established other policies, such as vaccine requirements, for certain of our employees. One or more of these policies may negatively impact productivity and cause other disruptions to our business, and have material and adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business is highly uncertain and difficult to predict, as information is rapidly evolving with respect to the duration and severity of the pandemic. At this point, we cannot reasonably estimate the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, or its overall impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Should there be in the future any similar epidemic or pandemic that harms the global economy in general, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. We may also experience impacts to certain of our customers as a result of health epidemic or other outbreak occurring in one or more locations, which in turn may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Any downturn in U.S. or global economic conditions may have a significant adverse effect on our business.
There have been significant and sustained economic downturns in the U.S. and globally in the past. These downturns have placed pressure on consumer demand, and the resulting impact on consumer spending has had a material adverse effect on the demand for consumer electronic products. Similar downturns in the future may have a significant adverse effect on one or more of our licensees as an enterprise, which could result in those licensees reducing their efforts to commercialize products that incorporate our OLED technologies and materials. Consumer demand and the condition of the display and lighting industries may also be impacted by other external factors such as war, terrorism, geopolitical uncertainties, epidemics and other business interruptions. The impact of these external factors is difficult to predict, and one or more of these factors could adversely impact the demand for our customers’ products, and thus our business.
Many of our competitors have greater resources, which may make it difficult for us to compete successfully against them.
The display and solid-state lighting industries are characterized by intense competition. Many of our competitors have better name recognition and greater financial, technical, marketing, personnel and research capabilities than we do. Because of these differences, we may never be able to compete successfully in these markets or maintain any competitive advantages we are able to achieve over time.
If we cannot keep our key employees or hire other talented persons as we grow, our business might not succeed.
Our performance is substantially dependent on the continued services of our executive officers and other key technical and managerial personnel, and on our ability to offer competitive salaries and benefits to these and our other employees. We do not have employment agreements with any of our executive officers or other key technical or managerial personnel that require them to continue to work for us for any specified period and, therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time. Additionally, competition for highly skilled technical and managerial personnel is intense. We might not be able to attract, hire, train, retain and motivate the highly skilled employees we need to be successful. If we fail to attract and retain the necessary technical and managerial personnel, our business will suffer and might fail.
We rely solely on PPG to manufacture the OLED materials we use and sell to product manufacturers.
Our business prospects depend significantly on our ability to obtain proprietary OLED materials for our own use and for sale to product manufacturers. Our agreement with PPG provides us with a source for these materials for development, evaluation and commercial purposes. Our agreement with PPG currently runs through the end of 2024 and shall be automatically renewed for additional one-year terms, unless terminated by us with prior notice of one year or terminated by PPG with prior notice of two years. Our inability to continue obtaining these OLED materials from PPG or another source at cost-competitive prices and to continue obtaining these OLED materials in sufficient quantities to meet our product manufacturers' current and future demands and timetables would have a material adverse effect on our revenues and cost of goods sold relating to sales of these materials to OLED product manufacturers, as well as on our ability to perform future development work.
Additionally, PPG manufactures our materials at its facilities based in the United States. As a result, such materials may be subject to tariffs or other barriers from or to countries where some of our product manufacturer customers have operations and to where we would need to ship product.
We strive to maintain sufficient levels of inventory to accommodate our manufacturing customers. Inventory management relating to our material sales is complex, and excess inventory may harm our business and cause it to suffer.
Inventory management remains an area of focus as we balance the need to maintain strategic inventory levels of our OLED materials to ensure competitive lead times against the risk of inventory obsolescence because of rapidly changing technology and customer requirements. As a just-in-time supplier to our customers, we carry sufficient inventory to accommodate their capacity requirements, sometimes without firm purchase commitments. Our dependence on third-party manufacturers to provide our materials to us exposes us to longer lead times than if we were a direct manufacturer, increasing our risk of inventory obsolescence comparatively. Our customers may increase orders during periods of product shortages, cancel orders if their inventory is too high, or delay orders in anticipation of new products. They also may adjust their orders in response to the supply and demand of their products by end-users, or the supply and demand of our products and the products of our competitors that are available to them.
Inventory management risks are heightened when our largest customers launch new products and retire existing products. At such times, these customers tend to change product designs and may introduce some of our new materials into new designs. The production of these materials requires us to purchase essential raw material and commence manufacturing well in advance of receiving firm customer orders for such materials. Accordingly, we are subject to the risk of unanticipated changes in our customers’ manufacturing plans and designs. Unanticipated product cessation and product introduction delays or cancellation may cause us to order or produce excess or insufficient inventory. Excess inventory of our OLED materials is subject to the risk of inventory obsolescence. In the event that a substantial portion of our inventory becomes obsolete, it could have a material adverse effect on earnings due to the resulting costs associated with the inventory impairment charges and inventory write-downs.
We are the sole source supplier for certain critical components used in OLED technologies, which subjects customers to risk if we are unable to meet the demand for such components.
Our customers depend on us as the sole source for certain proprietary PHOLED materials used in manufacturing OLED products, which makes them susceptible to supply shortages if we are unable to meet their demand for such components. A potential customer could be hesitant to adopt OLED technology given the risks inherent in depending on a sole source for critical components and the inability to establish alternate supply relationships. If we are unable to supply the components needed by our existing customers in a timely manner, or if potential customers do not utilize OLED technology because of concerns about our ability to meet supply demands, our business may materially suffer.
Because the vast majority of OLED product manufacturers are located in the Asia-Pacific region, we are subject to international operational, financial, legal and political risks which may negatively impact our operations.
Many of our customers and prospective customers have a majority of their operations in countries other than the United States, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, and revenue outside the United States represents a majority of our total net revenue. We also have offices in various countries located outside of the United States. Risks associated with our doing business outside of the United States include, without limitation:
•compliance with a wide variety of U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including foreign anti-corruption laws and certain registration requirements for the OLED materials we sell;
•legal uncertainties regarding taxes, tariffs, quotas, export controls, export licenses and other trade barriers;
•economic instability in the countries of our customers, causing delays or reductions in orders for their products and therefore our royalties;
•political instability in the countries in which we and/or our customers operate, particularly in South Korea relating to its disputes with and proximity to North Korea, in Hong Kong relating to anti-government protests and in Taiwan relating to its disputes with China;
•third party theft or compromise of our products, technology, data or intellectual property, including by means of counterfeiting or reverse-engineering;
•difficulties in collecting accounts receivable and longer accounts receivable payment cycles;
•potentially adverse tax and tariff consequences; and
•trade conflicts between and among various geopolitical factions.
Any of these factors could impair our ability to license our OLED technologies and sell our OLED materials, thereby harming our business. Compliance with changing laws and regulations may involve significant costs or require changes in business practice that could result in reduced profitability.
We rely on information technology systems to operate various elements of our business and a cyber-attack or other breach of our systems, or those of third parties on whom we may rely, could subject us to liability or interrupt the operation of our business.
We are dependent on information technology systems to operate various elements of our business. A breakdown, invasion, corruption, destruction or interruption of critical information technology systems by employees, others with authorized access to our systems or unauthorized persons could negatively impact operations. In the ordinary course of business, we collect, store and transmit important data and it is critical that we do so in a secure manner to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of such information. Additionally, we outsource certain elements of our information technology systems to third parties. As a result of this outsourcing, our third-party vendors may or could have access to our confidential information making such systems vulnerable. Data breaches of our information technology systems, or those of our third-party vendors, may pose a risk that sensitive data may be exposed to unauthorized persons or to the public. While we believe that we have taken appropriate security measures to protect our data and information technology systems, and have been informed by our third-party vendors that they have as well, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent breakdowns or breaches in our systems, or those of our third-party vendors, that could adversely affect our business.
Natural disasters or other unforeseen catastrophic events could unfavorably affect our business.
Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, or earthquakes, particularly in Asia-Pacific region, where many of our customers are located, or the occurrence of other unforeseen catastrophic events, such a fire or flood, could unfavorably affect our business and financial performance. Such events could unfavorably affect our customers in many ways, such as causing physical damage to one or more of their properties, the temporary or permanent closure of one or more plants, the disruption or cessation of manufacturing of product lines, and the temporary or long-term disruption in the supply or demand for their products. A resulting by-product of such natural disasters or other unforeseen catastrophic events could be a temporary or long-term disruption in the supply of or demand for our products.
Risks Related to Legal, Regulatory and Tax Matters
We may be subject to environmental laws and regulations that impose additional compliance costs and that could negatively impact our business.
Changes in environmental laws or regulations of our products could result in higher operating and compliance expenses and limit the markets in which we can manufacture and to which we can export our products. Changes in environmental laws or regulations, including laws relating to manufacturing operations and export restrictions, also could lead to new or additional investment in product designs and an increase in raw materials costs, and could increase our environmental compliance expenditures. If environmental laws or regulations are either changed or adopted and impose additional operational restrictions and compliance requirements upon us or our products, they could negatively impact our business, capital expenditures, results of operations and financial condition.
The U.S. government has rights to intellectual property derived from our government-funded work that might prevent us from realizing the full benefits of our intellectual property portfolio.
The U.S. government, through various government agencies, has provided and continues to provide funding to us and university research partners for work related to certain aspects of our OLED technologies. Because we have been provided with this funding, the government has rights to any intellectual property derived from this work that could restrict our ability to market OLED products to the government for military and other applications, or to license this intellectual property to third parties for commercial applications. Moreover, if the government determines that we have not taken effective steps to achieve practical application of this intellectual
property in any field of use in a reasonable time, the government could require us to license this intellectual property to other parties in that field of use. Any of these occurrences would limit our ability to obtain maximum value from our intellectual property portfolio.
Our effective tax rate may increase or decrease.
We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes. In the ordinary course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. We are subject to audit by tax authorities where we do business. Although we believe that our tax estimates and tax positions are reasonable, they could be materially affected by many factors including the final outcome of tax audits and related litigation, the introduction of new tax accounting standards, legislation, regulations, and related interpretations, our global mix of earnings and the realizability of deferred tax assets. An increase or decrease in our effective tax rate could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, at any time, U.S. federal tax laws or the administrative interpretations of those laws may be changed. We also cannot predict whether, when or to what extent other new U.S. federal tax laws, regulations, interpretations or rulings will be issued. As a result, changes in U.S. federal tax laws could negatively impact our operating results, financial condition and business operations, and adversely impact our shareholders.
Occasionally, changes in state and local tax laws or regulations are enacted that may result in an increase in our tax liability. Shortfalls in tax revenues for states and municipalities in recent years may lead to an increase in the frequency and size of such changes. If such changes occur, we may be required to pay additional taxes on our assets or income.
Risks Related to Our Stock and Capitalization
We may require additional funding in the future in order to continue our business.
Our capital requirements have been and will continue to be significant. We may require additional funding in the future for the research, development and commercialization of our OLED technologies and materials, to obtain and maintain patents and other intellectual property rights in these technologies and materials, and for working capital and other purposes, the timing and amount of which are difficult to ascertain. Our cash on hand may not be sufficient to meet all of our future needs. When we need additional funds, such funds may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we cannot obtain more money when needed, our business might fail. Additionally, if we attempt to raise money in an offering of shares of our common stock, preferred stock, warrants or depositary shares, or if we engage in acquisitions involving the issuance of such securities, the issuance of these shares will dilute our then-existing shareholders.
The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile.
The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile, as has been the case with our common stock in the past as well as the securities of many companies, particularly other emerging-growth companies in the technology industry. Factors such as the following may have a significant impact on the market price of our common stock in the future:
•our revenues, expenses and operating results;
•announcements by us, by our licensors, customers, or our competitors of technological developments, new product applications or contractual arrangements;
•announcements relating to dividends and share repurchases; and
•other factors affecting the display and solid-state lighting industries in general.
Our operating results may have significant period-to-period fluctuations, which would make it difficult to predict our future performance.
Due to the current stage of commercialization of our OLED technologies and materials, current geopolitical risks, the limited number of commercially successful consumer products utilizing our OLED technologies that customers have introduced in the marketplace, the relatively short product lifetimes of these consumer products, and the significant development and manufacturing objectives that we and our customers must achieve for the widespread inclusion of our OLED technologies in consumer products such
as mobile phones, tablets, television displays and lighting products, our quarterly operating results are difficult to predict and may vary significantly from quarter to quarter.
We believe that period-to-period comparisons of our operating results are not a reliable indicator of our future performance at this time. Among other factors affecting our period-to-period results, our license and technology development fees often consist of large one-time, annual, semi-annual or quarterly payments, which may result in significant fluctuations in our revenues. In addition, our reliance on a relatively small number of licensees with large volumes of consumer product sales makes our quarterly operating results subject to our licensees’ specific plans and the success of their specific product offerings.
With respect to material sales, our sales are primarily dependent on purchases made by a relatively small number of customers. In addition to the other factors described above relating to our customers’ sales opportunities, our quarter-to-quarter sales may be materially impacted by our customers’ inventory management plans, which may vary substantially based on financial management considerations, changes in their product mix plans, modified material processing techniques and manufacturing line modifications.
If, in some future period, our operating results or business outlook fall below the expectations of securities analysts or investors, our stock price would be likely to decline and investors in our common stock may not be able to resell their shares at or above their purchase price. Broad market, industry and global economic factors may also materially reduce the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance.
The issuance of additional shares of our common stock could drive down the price of our stock.
The price of our common stock could decrease if:
•shares of our common stock that are currently subject to restriction on sale become freely salable, whether through an effective registration statement or based on Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended; or
•we issue additional shares of our common stock that might be or become freely salable, including shares that would be issued upon conversion of our preferred stock or the exercise of outstanding stock options.
We can issue shares of preferred stock that may adversely affect the rights of shareholders of our common stock.
Our Articles of Incorporation authorize us to issue up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences determined from time-to-time by our Board of Directors. Accordingly, our Board of Directors is empowered, without shareholder approval, to issue preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights superior to those of shareholders of our common stock. For example, an issuance of shares of preferred stock could:
•adversely affect the voting power of the shareholders of our common stock;
•make it more difficult for a third party to gain control of us;
•discourage bids for our common stock at a premium; or
•otherwise adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
As of February 23, 2022, we have issued and outstanding 200,000 shares of Series A Nonconvertible Preferred Stock, all of which are held by an entity controlled by members of the family of Sherwin I. Seligsohn, our Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors has authorized and issued other shares of preferred stock in the past, none of which are currently outstanding, and may do so again at any time in the future.
Any decisions to reduce or discontinue paying cash dividends to our shareholders could cause the market price for our common stock to decline.
In 2017, our Board of Directors began declaring quarterly cash dividends on our common stock, which we have consistently paid since then and we intend to continue to pay in the future. However, payment of future cash dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon our results of operations, earnings, capital requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. As such, we may modify, suspend or cancel our cash dividend policy in any manner and at any time. Any reduction or discontinuance by us of the payment of quarterly cash dividends could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. Moreover, in the event our payment of quarterly cash dividends are reduced or discontinued, our failure or inability to resume paying cash dividends at historical levels could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. There is no
guarantee that our common stock will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which current shareholders purchased their shares.
Our executive officers and directors own a significant percentage of our common stock and could exert significant influence over matters requiring shareholder approval, including takeover attempts.
Our executive officers and directors and their respective affiliates and the adult children of Sherwin Seligsohn, beneficially own, as of February 23, 2022, approximately 7.9% of the outstanding shares of our common stock. Accordingly, these individuals may, as a practical matter, be able to exert significant influence over matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combinations. This concentration also could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of us.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Our corporate offices and research and development laboratories are located at 250, 300 and 375 Phillips Boulevard in Ewing, New Jersey. In 2004, we acquired the building and property at which the 375 Phillips Boulevard facility is located. During 2005, we conducted a two-stage expansion of our laboratory and office space in the building, as well as a recent expansion in 2013 and 2015. We currently occupy the entire newly expanded facility. In 2017, we acquired the building and property at which the Adesis facility is located at 27 McCullough Drive in New Castle, Delaware. In 2019, we purchased 250 and 300 Phillips Boulevard in Ewing, New Jersey, adjacent to our corporate offices. The new facilities added approximately 88,000 square feet and will allow for the expansion of research and development activities, collaboration, manufacturing logistics and other corporate functions. In 2021, we leased with an option to purchase a manufacturing facility in Shannon, Ireland for the production by PPG of our PHOLED materials.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Patent Related Challenges and Oppositions
Each major jurisdiction in the world that issues patents provides both third parties and applicants an opportunity to seek a further review of an issued patent. The process for requesting and considering such reviews is specific to the jurisdiction that issued the patent in question, and generally does not provide for claims of monetary damages or a review of specific claims of infringement. The conclusions made by the reviewing administrative bodies tend to be appealable and generally are limited in scope and applicability to the specific claims and jurisdiction in question.
We believe that opposition proceedings are frequently commenced in the ordinary course of business by third parties who may believe that one or more claims in a patent do not comply with the technical or legal requirements of the specific jurisdiction in which the patent was issued. We view these proceedings as reflective of our goal of obtaining the broadest legally permissible patent coverage permitted in each jurisdiction. Once a proceeding is initiated, as a general matter, the issued patent continues to be presumed valid until the jurisdiction’s applicable administrative body issues a final non-appealable decision. Depending on the jurisdiction, the outcome of these proceedings could include affirmation, denial or modification of some or all of the originally issued claims. We believe that as OLED technology becomes more established and our patent portfolio increases in size, so will the number of these proceedings.
Below is a summary of an active proceeding that has been commenced against an issued patent that is exclusively licensed to us. We do not believe that the confirmation, loss or modification of our rights in any individual claim or set of claims that are the subject of the following legal proceeding would have a material impact on our materials sales or licensing business or on our Consolidated Financial Statements, including our Consolidated Statements of Income, as a whole. In certain circumstances, when permitted, we may also utilize a proceeding to request modification of the claims to better distinguish the patented invention from any newly identified prior art and/or improve the claim scope of the patent relative to commercially important categories of the invention.
Opposition to European Patent No. 1390962
On November 16, 2011, Osram AG and BASF SE each filed a Notice of Opposition to European Patent No. 1390962 (the EP '962 patent), which relates to the Company’s white phosphorescent OLED technology. The EP '962 patent, which was issued on February 16, 2011, is a European counterpart patent to U.S. patents 7,009,338 and 7,285,907. They are exclusively licensed to us by Princeton, and we are required to pay all legal costs and fees associated with this proceeding.
The European Patent Office (EPO) combined the oppositions into a single opposition proceeding, and a hearing on this matter was held in December 2015, wherein the EPO Opposition Division revoked the patent claims for alleged insufficiencies under European
Patent Convention Article 83. We believe the EPO's decision is erroneous and appealed the decision. Subsequent to the filing of the appeal, BASF withdrew its opposition to the patent. On appeal, the Appeals Division withdrew the lower Opposition Division’s rejections with respect to a portion of the original subject matter and remanded the matter to the lower Opposition Division for further consideration. The patent, as originally granted, is deemed valid during the pendency of the opposition process.
At this time, based on our current knowledge, we believe that the patent being challenged should be declared valid and that a significant portion of our claims should be upheld. However, we cannot make any assurances of this result.
In addition to the above proceeding and now concluded proceedings which have been referenced in prior filings, from time to time, we may have other proceedings that are pending which relate to patents we acquired as part of the Fujifilm patent or BASF OLED patent acquisitions or which relate to technologies that are not currently widely used in the marketplace.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Our Common Stock
Our common stock is quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market website under the symbol “OLED.” As of February 23, 2022, there were approximately 291 holders of record of our common stock.
During 2019, 2020 and 2021, we declared and paid cash dividends on our common stock. While we intend to pay regular quarterly dividends in the future, payment of future cash dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon our results of operations, earnings, capital requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. As such, we may modify, suspend or cancel our cash dividend policy in any manner and at any time.
Performance Graph
The performance graph below compares the change in the cumulative shareholder return of our common stock from December 31, 2016 to December 31, 2021, with the percentage change in the cumulative total return over the same period on (i) the Russell 2000 Index, and (ii) the Nasdaq Electronics Components Index. This performance graph assumes an initial investment of $100 on December 31, 2016 in each of our common stock, the Russell 2000 Index and the Nasdaq Electronics Components Index.
Cumulative Total Return
12/16
12/17
12/18
12/19
12/20
12/21
Universal Display Corp.
$
100.00
$
306.97
$
166.73
$
368.04
$
411.96
$
297.06
Russell 2000
100.00
114.65
102.02
128.06
153.62
176.39
NASDAQ Electronic Components
100.00
142.31
124.99
187.76
271.08
409.17
Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans
The information required by this item with respect to our equity compensation plans will be set forth in our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6. [RESERVED]
None.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the section entitled “Selected Financial Data” in this report and our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes to this report. This discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, as more fully discussed in Item 1A of this report, entitled “Risk Factors.”
OVERVIEW
We are a leader in the research, development and commercialization of organic light emitting diode (OLED), technologies and materials for use in display applications, such as mobile phones, televisions, wearables, tablets, portable media devices, notebook computers, personal computers and automotive applications, as well as specialty and general lighting products. Since 1994, we have been engaged and expect to continue to be primarily engaged, in funding and performing research and development activities relating to OLED technologies and materials, and commercializing these technologies and materials. We derive our revenue primarily from the following:
•sales of OLED materials for evaluation, development and commercial manufacturing;
•intellectual property and technology licensing;
•technology development and support, including third-party collaboration efforts and providing support to third parties for commercialization of their OLED products; and
•contract research services in the areas of chemical materials synthesis research, development and commercialization for non-OLED applications.
Material sales relate to our sale of OLED materials for incorporation into our customers’ commercial OLED products or for their OLED development and evaluation activities. Material sales are generally recognized at the time title passes, which is typically at the time of shipment or at the time of delivery, depending upon the contractual agreement between the parties.
We receive license and royalty payments under certain commercial, development and technology evaluation agreements, some of which are non-refundable advances. These payments may include royalty and license fees made pursuant to license agreements and also license fees included as part of certain commercial supply agreements. These payments are included in the estimate of total contract consideration by customer and recognized as revenue over the contract term based on material units sold at the estimated per unit fee over the life of the contract.
In 2018, we entered into a commercial patent license agreement with Samsung Display Co., Ltd. (SDC). This agreement, which covers the manufacture and sale of specified OLED display materials, was effective as of January 1, 2018 and lasts through the end of 2022 with an additional two-year extension option. Under this agreement, we are being paid a license fee, payable in quarterly installments over the agreement term of five years. The agreement conveys to SDC the non-exclusive right to use certain of our intellectual property assets for a limited period of time that is less than the estimated life of the assets.
At the same time that we entered into the current commercial license agreement with SDC, we also entered into a material purchase agreement with SDC. Under the material purchase agreement, SDC agrees to purchase from us a minimum amount of phosphorescent emitter materials for use in the manufacture of licensed products. This minimum commitment is subject to SDC’s requirements for phosphorescent emitter materials and our ability to meet these requirements over the term of the supplemental agreement.
In 2015, we entered into an OLED patent license agreement and an OLED commercial supply agreement with LG Display Co., Ltd. (LG Display), which were effective as of January 1, 2015. The terms of the agreements were set to expire by the end of 2022. The patent license agreement provides LG Display a non-exclusive, royalty bearing portfolio license to make and sell OLED displays under our patent portfolio. The patent license calls for license fees, prepaid royalties and running royalties on licensed products. The agreements include customary provisions relating to warranties, indemnities, confidentiality, assignability and business terms. The agreements provide for certain other minimum obligations relating to the volume of material sales anticipated over the life of the agreements as well as minimum royalty revenue to be generated under the patent license agreement. We generate revenue under these agreements that are predominantly tied to LG Display’s sales of OLED licensed products. The OLED commercial supply agreement provides for the sales of materials for use by LG Display, which may include phosphorescent emitters and host materials.
In 2021, we entered into amendments of the 2015 OLED patent license agreement and the 2015 OLED commercial supply agreement with LG Display, which amendments were effective as of January 1, 2021. The amended agreements included a term extension and are set to expire by the end of 2025.
In 2016, we entered into long-term, multi-year OLED patent license and material purchase agreements with Tianma Micro-electronics Co., Ltd. (Tianma). Under the license agreement, we have granted Tianma non-exclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by us to manufacture and sell OLED display products. The license agreement calls for license fees and running royalties on Tianma’s sales of licensed products. Additionally, we supply phosphorescent OLED materials to Tianma for use in its licensed products. In 2021, we mutually agreed to extend the terms of both the patent license and material purchase agreements for an additional multi-year term.
In 2017, we entered into long-term, multi-year agreements with BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. (BOE). Under these agreements, we have granted BOE non-exclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by us to manufacture and sell OLED display products. We also supply phosphorescent OLED materials to BOE for use in its licensed products.
In 2018, we entered into long-term, multi-year OLED patent license and material purchase agreements with Visionox Technology, Inc. (Visionox). Under the license agreement, we have granted certain of Visionox’s affiliates a non-exclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by us to manufacture and sell OLED display products. The license agreement calls for license fees and running royalties on licensed products. Additionally, we supply phosphorescent OLED materials to Visionox for use in its licensed products. On April 22, 2021, we announced an extension of the Visionox agreement by entering into new five-year OLED material supply and license agreements with a new affiliate of Visionox, Visionox Hefei Technology Co. Ltd.
In 2019, we entered into an evaluation and commercial supply relationship with Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd. (CSOT). In 2020, we entered into long-term, multi-year agreements with CSOT. Under these agreements, we have granted CSOT non-exclusive license rights under various patents owned or controlled by us to manufacture and sell OLED display products. We also supply phosphorescent OLED materials to CSOT for use in its licensed products.
In 2016, we acquired Adesis, Inc. (Adesis) with operations in New Castle, Delaware. Adesis is a contract research organization (CRO) that provides support services to the OLED, pharma, biotech, catalysis and other industries. As of December 31, 2021, Adesis employed a team of 135 research scientists, chemists, engineers and laboratory technicians. Prior to our acquisition of Adesis in 2016, we utilized more than 50% of Adesis’ technology service and production output. We continue to utilize a significant portion of its technology research capacity for the benefit of our OLED technology development, and Adesis uses the remaining capacity to operate as a CRO in the above-mentioned industries by providing contract research services for non-OLED applications to those third-party customers. Contract research services revenue is earned by providing chemical materials synthesis research, development and commercialization for non-OLED applications on a contractual basis for those third-party customers.
In June 2020, a wholly-owned subsidiary, OVJP Corporation (OVJP Corp), was formed as a Delaware corporation. Based out of California, OVJP Corp was founded to advance the commercialization of our proprietary Organic Vapor Jet Printing (OVJP) technology. As of December 31, 2021, OVJP employed a team of 25 research, mechanical, electrical and software engineers and laboratory technicians. As a direct printing technique, OVJP technology has the potential to offer high deposition rates for large-area OLEDs. In addition, OVJP technology reduces OLED material waste associated with use of a shadow mask (i.e., the waste of material that deposits on the shadow mask itself when fabricating an OLED). By comparison to inkjet printing, an OVJP process does not use liquid solvents and therefore the OLED materials utilized are not limited by their viscosity or solvent solubility. OVJP also avoids generation of solvent wastes and eliminates the additional step of removing residual solvent from the OLED device. We believe the successful implementation of the OVJP technology has the potential to increase the addressable market for large-size OLED panels while also serving another potential growth market for our proprietary PHOLED materials and technologies.
In February 2021, we announced the establishment of a new manufacturing site in Shannon, Ireland and an agreement between UDC Ireland Limited and PPG for the production of our OLED materials. The new facility is expected to double our production capacity and allow for the diversification of our manufacturing base for phosphorescent emitters. We anticipate the facility to be operational by mid-year 2022.
We also generate technology development and support revenue earned from development and technology evaluation agreements and commercialization assistance fees, along with, to a minimal extent, government contracts. Relating to our government contracts, we may receive reimbursements by government entities for all or a portion of the research and development costs we incur. Revenues are recognized as services are performed, proportionally as research and development costs are incurred, or as defined milestones are achieved.
We anticipate fluctuations in our annual and quarterly results of operations due to uncertainty regarding, among other factors:
•the timing, cost and volume of sales of our OLED materials;
•the timing of our receipt of license fees and royalties, as well as fees for future technology development and evaluation;
•the timing and magnitude of expenditures we may incur in connection with our ongoing research and development and patent-related activities; and
•the timing and financial consequences of our formation of new business relationships and alliances.
Further, we continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on our business. Our global operations, and the global nature of our customer base and their respective customers, expose us to risks associated with public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on our operations and financial results during the year ended December 31, 2020 and continued to have an impact during the year ended December 31, 2021. We expect that as the pandemic continues to evolve, it may potentially have a further adverse impact on the results of our operations due to uncertainties involving the continued disruption of the global economy, uncertainties associated with consumer demand for finished OLED goods, and the potential resulting impact on our customers and their demand for our phosphorescent emitters.
At this time, the crisis has not had a significant impact on our ability to fulfill shipments of commercial materials as required by our customers. However, the sustainability of maintaining our testing and manufacturing operations at levels needed to meet fluctuating customer demand is uncertain and is dependent upon the rapidly evolving situations being encountered by our logistics and supply chain partners. In an effort to protect the health and safety of our employees, we have taken proactive measures to adopt social distancing policies at all of our locations, employing nurses to check everyone entering our buildings, working from home, reducing the number of people in our sites at any one time, and suspending employee travel.
While the ultimate health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is highly uncertain, we expect that our business operations and results of operations, including our revenues, net income and cash flows, will continue to be adversely impacted for at least the first half of 2022, including as a result of:
•temporary closure of electronics and other retail stores through which our customers sell the products for which they use our technology and materials;
•consumer confidence and consumer spending habits, including spending for the products that our customers sell and negative trends in consumer purchasing patterns due to consumers’ disposable income, credit availability and debt levels;
•possible disruption to the supply chain caused by distribution and other logistical issues, which may impact suppliers of our raw materials as well as our ability to ship our materials to customers on a timely basis;
•decreased productivity due to travel ban, work-from-home policies or shelter-in-place orders;
•a slowdown in the U.S. economy, and uncertain global economic outlook or a credit crisis; and
•uncertain trade restrictions amongst jurisdictions seeking to manage their respective exposure to risks, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are focused on navigating these recent challenges presented by COVID-19 through preserving our liquidity and managing our cash flow. We continue to actively monitor the COVID-19 situation and may take further actions altering our business operations that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, partners, suppliers, and stakeholders, or as required by federal, state, or local authorities. It is not clear what the potential effects any such alterations or modifications may have on our business, including the effects on our customers, employees, and on our financial results for the 2022 fiscal year.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect our reported assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses, and other financial information. Actual results may differ significantly from our estimates under other assumptions and conditions.
We believe that our accounting policies related to revenue recognition and deferred revenue and income taxes, as described below, are our “critical accounting policies” as contemplated by the SEC. These policies, which have been reviewed with our Audit Committee, are discussed in greater detail below.
Revenue Recognition and Deferred Revenue
Material sales relate to the sale of our OLED materials for incorporation into our customers’ commercial OLED products or for their OLED development and evaluation activities. Revenue associated with material sales is generally recognized at the time title passes, which is typically at the time of shipment or at the time of delivery, depending upon the contractual agreement between the parties. Revenue may be recognized after control of the material passes in the event the transaction price includes variable consideration. For example, a customer may be provided an extended opportunity to stock materials prior to use in mass production and given a general right of return not conditioned on breaches of warranties associated with the specific product. In such circumstances, revenue will be recognized at the earlier of the expiration of the customer’s general right of return or once it becomes unlikely that the customer will exercise its right of return.
The rights and benefits to our OLED technologies are conveyed to the customer through technology license agreements and material supply agreements. We believe that the licenses and materials sold under these combined agreements are not distinct from each other for financial reporting purposes and as such, are accounted for as a single performance obligation. Accordingly, total contract consideration is estimated and recognized over the contract term based on material units sold at the estimated per unit fee over the life of the contract. Total contract consideration is allocated to material sales and royalty and licensing fees on the Consolidated Statements of Income based on contract pricing.
Various estimates are relied upon to recognize revenue. We estimate total material units to be purchased by our customers over the contract term based on historical trends, industry estimates and our forecast process. Our management uses the expected value method to estimate the material per unit fee. Additionally, our management estimates the total sales-based royalties based on the estimated net sales revenue of our customers over the contract term.
Accounting for Income Taxes
We are subject to income taxes in both the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgments and estimates are required in evaluating our tax positions for future realization and determining our provision for income taxes. Our income tax expense, deferred tax assets and liabilities, and reserves for unrecognized tax benefits reflect management's best assessment of estimated future taxes to be paid.
In assessing the realizability of deferred tax assets, we consider whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of our deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent on our ability to generate future taxable income to obtain benefit from the reversal of temporary differences, net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits. As part of our assessment we consider the scheduled reversal of deferred tax assets and liabilities, projected future taxable income, and tax planning strategies.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, based on previous earnings history, a current evaluation of expected future taxable income and other evidence, we determined to retain the valuation allowance that relates to New Jersey research and development credits. Actual results could differ from our assessments if adequate taxable income is generated in future periods. To the extent we establish a new valuation allowance or change a previously established valuation allowance in a future period, income tax expense will be impacted.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
For a discussion of our results of operations comparison for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 filed on February 18, 2021.
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Year Ended December 31,
(Decrease) Increase
REVENUE:
Material sales
$
318,623
$
229,749
$
88,874
Royalty and license fees
219,032
185,054
33,978
Contract research services
15,870
14,064
1,806
Total revenue
553,525
428,867
124,658
COST OF SALES
114,991
85,478
29,513
Gross margin
438,534
343,389
95,145
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Research and development
99,673
83,894
15,779
Selling, general and administrative
80,372
61,346
19,026
Amortization of acquired technology and other intangible assets
21,994
21,969
Patent costs
8,160
7,529
Royalty and license expense
11,125
(10,434
)
Total operating expenses
210,890
185,863
25,027
OPERATING INCOME
227,644
157,526
70,118
Interest income, net
5,139
(4,634
)
Other income, net
(766
)
Interest and other income, net
6,003
(5,400
)
INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAXES
228,247
163,529
64,718
INCOME TAX EXPENSE
(44,034
)
(30,157
)
(13,877
)
NET INCOME
$
184,213
$
133,372
$
50,841
Revenue
Our total material sales were $318.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $229.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, an increase of 39% with a commensurate increase in unit material volume of 34%. The increase in material sales was due to the recovery in sales that were adversely impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the year ended December 31, 2020, as well as strengthened demand for OLED products utilizing our emitter material. Even though we believe we have experienced the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain uncertain as to the possibility of its re-emergence and corresponding negative impact on OLED market demand.
•Green emitter sales for the year ended December 31, 2021, which include our yellow-green emitters, were $242.9 million as compared to $177.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, with unit material volumes increasing by 36%.
•Red emitter sales for the year ended December 31, 2021 were $75.2 million as compared to $51.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, with unit material volumes increasing by 31%.
Revenue from royalty and license fees was $219.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to $185.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, an increase of 18%. This increase was due primarily to an overall strengthening of our customers’ sales of royalty-bearing OLED licensed products and was partially offset by a $3.3 million reduction in the cumulative catch-up adjustment arising from changes in estimates of transaction price, net, arising from revisions in our customers' forecasted demand of emitters anticipated to be procured over their respective contract lives.
Contract research services revenue was $15.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to $14.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, an increase of 13%. Revenue from contract research services consists of revenue earned by our subsidiary, Adesis, which provides support services to the pharma, biotech, catalysis and other industries on a contractual basis for those third-party customers.
Cost of Sales
Cost of sales for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased by $29.5 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, primarily due to an increase in the level of material sales. Included in the cost of sales for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 were increases in inventory reserve of $3.6 million and $1.1 million, respectively, due to excess inventory levels in certain products. As a result of the increase in revenue from material sales and royalty and license fees, gross margin for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased by $95.1 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, with gross margin as a percentage of revenue decreasing to 79% from 80%.
Research and development
Research and development expenses increased to $99.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $83.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to higher employee-related compensation expenses and operating costs, including those associated with OVJP technology development, increased contract research, and PPG development activity.
Selling, general and administrative
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased to $80.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $61.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily due to higher employee-related compensation expenses, increased pre-production costs associated with the new manufacturing facility in Shannon, Ireland, as well as an increase in depreciation expenses resulting from corporate expansion.
Amortization of acquired technology and other intangible assets
Amortization of acquired technology and other intangible assets was $22.0 million for each of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. See Note 7 in Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.
Patent costs
Patent costs increased to $8.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $7.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in patent costs reflected higher internal patent prosecution related costs.
Royalty and license expense
Royalty and license expense decreased to $691,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $11.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease was due to decreased royalties incurred under our amended license agreement with Princeton, USC and Michigan, resulting from a decrease in qualifying material sales. See Note 11 in Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.
Interest and other income, net
Interest income, net was $505,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $5.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease in interest income, net was primarily due to a decrease in bond yields on available-for-sale investments held during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to bond yields on available-for-sale investments held during the year ended December 31, 2020. Other income, net primarily consisted of net exchange gains and losses on foreign currency transactions and rental income. We recorded other income, net of $98,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to $864,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Income tax expense
We are subject to income taxes in both the United States and foreign jurisdictions. The effective income tax rate was an expense of 19.3% and 18.4% for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and we recorded income tax expense of $44.0 million and $30.2 million, respectively, for those periods.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our principal sources of liquidity are our cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments. As of December 31, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $312.0 million, short-term investments of $351.2 million, and long-term U.S. Government bond investments of $159.6 million for a total of $822.8 million. This compares to cash and cash equivalents of $630.0 million, short-term investments of $100.0 million and no long-term U.S. Government bonds investments for a total of $730.0 million as of December 31, 2020.
Cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $191.1 million resulting from $184.2 million of net income and $140.4 million due to changes in our operating assets and liabilities, partially offset by a $133.5 million, net reduction due to non-cash items including amortization of deferred revenue, stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles. Changes in our operating assets and liabilities related to an increase in deferred revenue of $201.5 million, an increase in other liabilities of $22.2 million and an increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses of $1.9 million, partially offset by an increase in inventory of $46.1 million, an increase in accounts receivable of $25.4 million and an increase in other assets of $13.7 million.
Cash provided by operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $148.8 million resulting from $133.4 million of net income and $136.6 million due to changes in our operating assets and liabilities, partially offset by a $121.2 million reduction, net due to non-cash items including amortization of deferred revenue, amortization of intangibles and stock-based compensation. Changes in our operating assets and liabilities related to an increase in deferred revenue of $192.4 million and an increase in other liabilities of $10.1 million, partially offset by an increase in inventory of $28.8 million, an increase in accounts receivable of $21.8 million, a decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses of $8.3 million and an increase in other assets of $7.0 million.
Cash used in investing activities was $457.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to cash provided by investing activities of $391.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was due to the timing of maturities and purchases of investments resulting in net purchases of $414.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to net sales and maturities of $419.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, and an increase in purchases of intangibles and property, plant and equipment of $15.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in property, plant and equipment purchases during 2021 was primarily due to improvements to our Ewing facilities in New Jersey.
Cash used in financing activities was $51.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $41.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was due to an increase in the cash payment of dividends in the current year of $9.5 million and an increase in the payment of withholding taxes related to stock-based compensation to employees of $555,000, partially offset by an increase in proceeds from the issuance of common stock of $331,000.
Working capital was $738.0 million as of December 31, 2021, as compared to $759.6 million as of December 31, 2020. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in cash and cash equivalents, partially offset by an increase in short-term investments, an increase in inventory and an increase in accounts receivable.
Several significant contractual obligations are anticipated to be incurred in future periods and include payments for retirement benefit plan obligations, lease obligations and PPG inventory commitments. Payments towards the retirement plan obligations are anticipated to commence during fiscal year 2023 in the amount of $10.9 million and total $82.8 million over the life of the plan. Existing lease obligations are $4.1 million for fiscal year 2022, $8.0 million for both fiscal years 2023 and 2024 and $14.2 million thereafter. Existing PPG inventory commitments are $25.7 million and will fluctuate based on PPG production needs to fulfill to our demand for commercial emitter material.
We anticipate, based on our internal forecasts and assumptions relating to our operations (including, among others, assumptions regarding our working capital requirements, the progress of our research and development efforts, the availability of sources of funding for our research and development work, and the timing and costs associated with the preparation, filing, prosecution, maintenance, defense and enforcement of our patents and patent applications), that we have sufficient cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments to meet our obligations for at least the next twelve months. However, the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and our precautionary measures in response thereto may impact our business and thus our liquidity will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be precisely estimated at this time.
We believe that potential additional financing sources for us include long-term and short-term borrowings and public and private sales of our equity and debt securities. It should be noted, however, that additional funding may be required in the future for research, development and commercialization of our OLED technologies and materials, to obtain, maintain and enforce patents respecting these technologies and materials, and for working capital and other purposes, the timing and amount of which are difficult to ascertain. There can be no assurance that additional funds will be available to us when needed, on commercially reasonable terms or at all, particularly in the current economic environment.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
Recently issued accounting pronouncements are addressed in Note 2 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
We do not utilize financial instruments for trading purposes and hold no derivative financial instruments, other financial instruments or derivative commodity instruments that could expose us to significant market risk other than our investments disclosed in “Fair Value Measurements” in Note 4 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included herein. We generally invest in investment grade financial instruments to reduce our exposure related to investments. Our primary market risk exposure with regard to such financial instruments is to changes in interest rates, which would impact interest income earned on investments. However, based upon the conservative nature of our investment portfolio and current experience, we do not believe a decrease in investment yields would have a material negative effect on our interest income.
Substantially all our revenue is derived from outside of North America. All revenue is primarily denominated in U.S. dollars and therefore we bear no significant foreign exchange risk.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Our Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes to those statements are attached to this report beginning on page.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021. Based on that evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report, are effective to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in reports filed or submitted under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, is (i) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and (ii) accumulated and communicated to our management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding disclosure. However, a controls system, no matter how well designed and operated, cannot provide absolute assurance that the objectives of the controls system are met, and no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a company have been detected.
Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting and Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
The report of management on our internal control over financial reporting and the associated attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm are set forth in Item 8 of this report.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2021 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Information with respect to this item is set forth in our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission no later than May 2, 2022 (the first business day after the 120th day following the end of our fiscal year) (our Proxy Statement), and which is incorporated herein by reference. Information regarding our executive officers is included at the end of Item 1 in Part I of this report.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Information with respect to this item will be set forth in our Proxy Statement, and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
Information with respect to this item will be set forth in our Proxy Statement, and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
Information with respect to this item will be set forth in our Proxy Statement, and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
Information with respect to this item will be set forth in our Proxy Statement, and is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this report:
(1) Financial Statements:
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Balance Sheets
Consolidated Statements of Income
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income
Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(2) Financial Statement Schedules:
None.
(3) Exhibits:
The following is a list of the exhibits filed as part of this report. Where so indicated by footnote, exhibits that were previously filed are incorporated by reference. For exhibits incorporated by reference, the location of the exhibit in the previous filing is indicated parenthetically, together with a reference to the filing indicated by footnote.
Exhibit
Number
Description
3.1
Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of the registrant (1)
3.2
Amended and Restated Bylaws of the registrant (2)
Description of Securities(3)
10.1#
Amended and Restated Change in Control Agreement between the registrant and Sherwin I. Seligsohn, dated as of November 4, 2008 (4)
10.2#
Amended and Restated Change in Control Agreement between the registrant and Steven V. Abramson, dated as of November 4, 2008 (4)
10.3#
Amended and Restated Change in Control Agreement between the registrant and Sidney D. Rosenblatt, dated as of November 4, 2008 (4)
10.4#
Amended and Restated Change in Control Agreement between the registrant and Julia J. Brown, dated as of November 4, 2008 (4)
10.5#
Amended and Restated Change in Control Agreement between the registrant and Janice K. Mahon, dated as of November 4, 2008 (4)
10.6#
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Agreement between the registrant and Sherwin I. Seligsohn, dated as of February 23, 2007 (5)
10.7#
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Agreement between the registrant and Steven V. Abramson, dated as of January 26, 2007 (5)
10.8#
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Agreement between the registrant and Sidney D. Rosenblatt, dated as of February 7, 2007 (5)
10.9#
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Agreement between the registrant and Julia J. Brown, dated as of February 5, 2007 (5)
10.10#
Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation Agreement between the registrant and Janice K. Mahon, dated as of February 23, 2007 (4)
10.11#
Amended and Restated Change in Control Agreement between the registrant and Mauro Premutico, dated April 16, 2012 (6)
10.12#
Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan, dated as of April 1, 2010 (7)
10.13#
Amended and Restated Equity Compensation Plan, effective as of March 7, 2013 (8)
10.14
1997 Amended License Agreement among the registrant, The Trustees of Princeton University and the University of Southern California, dated as of October 9, 1997 (9)
10.15
Amendment #1 to the Amended License Agreement among the registrant, the Trustees of Princeton University and the University of Southern California, dated as of August 7, 2003 (10)
10.16
Amendment #2 to the Amended License Agreement among the registrant, the Trustees of Princeton University, the University of Southern California and the Regents of the University of Michigan, dated as of January 1, 2006 (11)
10.17
Termination, Amendment and License Agreement by and among the registrant, PD-LD, Inc., Dr. Vladimir S. Ban, and The Trustees of Princeton University, dated as of July 19, 2000 (12)
10.18+
Amended and Restated OLED Materials Supply and Service Agreement between the registrant and PPG Industries, Inc., dated as of October 1, 2011 (13)
10.19+
Amendment, dated February 23, 2021, to Amended and Restated OLED Materials Supply and Service Agreement, dated as of October 1, 2011, between the Registrant and PPG Industries, Inc. (14)
10.20+
OLED Patent License Agreement between the registrant and Samsung Display Co., Ltd., dated as of February 13, 2018 (15)
10.21+
Supplemental OLED Material Purchase Agreement between the registrant and Samsung Display Co., Ltd., dated as of February 13, 2018 (15)
10.22+
Patent Sale Agreement, dated as of July 23, 2012 by and between FUJIFILM Corporation and the Company (16)
10.23#
Universal Display Corporation Annual Incentive Plan (17)
10.24#
Form Agreement - Restricted Stock Unit Grant Letter (18)
10.25#
Form Agreement - Performance Unit Grant Letter (18)
10.26#
Universal Display Corporation Equity Compensation Plan (19)
10.27#
Amendment 2015-1, dated March 3, 2015, to Universal Display Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (20)
10.28#
Equity Retention Agreement between the Registrant and Steven V. Abramson, dated April 7, 2015 (21)
10.29#
Equity Retention Agreement between the Registrant and Sidney D. Rosenblatt, dated April 7, 2015 (21)
10.30#
Equity Retention Agreement between the Registrant and Julia J. Brown, dated September 10, 2015 (22)
10.31#
Equity Retention Agreement between the Registrant and Mauro Premutico, dated September 10, 2015 (22)
10.32+
IP Transfer Agreement, dated June 28, 2016 by and between UDC Ireland Limited and BASF SE (23)
10.33#
Equity Grant Agreement between the registrant and Steven V. Abramson, dated as of December 12, 2019 (3)
10.34#
Equity Grant Agreement between the registrant and Sidney D. Rosenblatt, dated as of December 12, 2019 (3)
10.35#
Equity Grant Agreement between the registrant and Julia J. Brown, dated as of December 12, 2019 (3)
10.36#
Equity Grant Agreement between the registrant and Mauro Premutico, dated as of December 12, 2019 (3)
10.37#
Equity Grant Agreement between the registrant and Janice K. Mahon, dated as of December 12, 2019 (3)
21*
Subsidiaries of the registrant
23.1*
Consent of KPMG LLP
31.1*
Certifications of Steven V. Abramson, Chief Executive Officer, as required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a)
31.2*
Certifications of Sidney D. Rosenblatt, Chief Financial Officer, as required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a)
32.1**
Certifications of Steven V. Abramson, Chief Executive Officer, as required by Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b), and by 18 U.S.C. Section 1350. (This exhibit shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liability of that section. Further, this exhibit shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.)
32.2**
Certifications of Sidney D. Rosenblatt, Chief Financial Officer, as required by Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b), and by 18 U.S.C. Section 1350. (This exhibit shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liability of that section. Further, this exhibit shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.)
101.INS*
Inline XBRL Instance Document - the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document
101.SCH*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CAL*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PRE*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
The cover page of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, formatted in Inline XBRL (included in Item 101.INS)
Explanation of footnotes to listing of exhibits:
* Filed herewith.
** Furnished herewith.
# Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.
+ Either (1) confidential treatment has been accorded to certain portions of this exhibit pursuant to Rule 406 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or Rule 24b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or (2) portions of this exhibit have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(10)(iv) of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC.
(1)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2018, filed with the SEC on August 9, 2018.
(2)Filed as an Exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2004.
(3)Filed as an Exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on February 20, 2020.
(4)Filed as an Exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, filed with the SEC on March 12, 2009.
(5)Filed as an Exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, filed with the SEC on March 15, 2007.
(6)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, filed with the SEC on August 8, 2012.
(7)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, filed with the SEC on May 10, 2010.
(8)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, filed with the SEC on May 9, 2013.
(9)Filed as an Exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10K-SB for the year ended December 31, 1997, filed with the SEC on March 31, 1998.
(10)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2003, filed with the SEC on November 10, 2003.
(11)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, filed with the SEC on August 9, 2006.
(12)Filed as an Exhibit to the amended Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000, filed with the SEC on November 20, 2001.
(13)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, filed with the SEC on November 8, 2011.
(14)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on May 6, 2021.
(15)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, filed with the SEC on May 3, 2018.
(16)Filed as an Exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on July 27, 2012.
(17)Filed as an Exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on June 24, 2013.
(18)Filed as an Exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, filed with the SEC on February 28, 2014.
(19)Filed as Exhibit A to the Company's Definitive Proxy Statement for the 2014 Annual Meeting filed with the SEC on April 25, 2014.
(20)Filed as an exhibit to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on March 9, 2015.
(21)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, filed with the SEC on August 6, 2015.
(22)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, filed with the SEC on November 5, 2015.
(23)Filed as an Exhibit to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, filed with the SEC on August 4, 2016.
Note: Any of the exhibits listed in the foregoing index not included with this report may be obtained, without charge, by writing to Mr. Sidney D. Rosenblatt, Corporate Secretary, Universal Display Corporation, 250 Phillips Boulevard, Ewing, New Jersey 08618.
(b) The exhibits required to be filed by us with this report are listed above.
(c) The Consolidated Financial Statement schedules required to be filed by us with this report are listed above.