
Yuantai Technology Industrial
E Ink manufactures a type of electronic paper based on research started at the MIT Media Lab.
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* | N/A | TWD3.0b | Debt |
Total Funding | 000k |





E Ink Holdings Inc., a publicly-traded Taiwanese company, is the commercial leader in ePaper technology. The company's business model centers on the research, development, manufacturing, and sale of electronic paper display (EPD) technology, which includes electronic ink films and display modules. E Ink supplies its advanced display products to major global brands and manufacturers for integration into their own products. Key clients include prominent names like Amazon, Sony, Barnes & Noble, and Casio. The company operates in a diverse market, with its technology being utilized across consumer electronics, retail, transportation, healthcare, and architecture.
The genesis of E Ink Corporation traces back to the MIT Media Lab, where the foundational idea for a low-power, paper-like electronic display was conceived. This led to the company's official founding in 1997 as a spin-out from MIT. The founders included MIT professor Joseph Jacobson, alongside undergraduates JD Albert and Barrett Comiskey, and entrepreneurs Russ Wilcox and Jerome Rubin. Jacobson, a physicist, envisioned a multi-page book with changeable content and minimal power consumption. The team successfully developed a microencapsulated electrophoretic display, a key breakthrough that made electronic paper practical. In 2009, E Ink Corporation was acquired by Prime View International (PVI), a Taiwanese display manufacturer established in 1992. Following the acquisition, PVI renamed itself E Ink Holdings, Inc., consolidating its focus on the ePaper market.
E Ink's core product is its electrophoretic display technology, which mimics the appearance of ink on paper. This technology utilizes tiny microcapsules containing positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a clear fluid. Applying an electric field causes these particles to migrate, creating a black, white, or grayscale image on the surface. A significant benefit of this technology is its bistability, meaning it requires no power to maintain an image, only to change it, resulting in exceptionally low power consumption. The displays are also reflective, not emissive, making them easily readable in direct sunlight without the eye strain associated with backlit LCD screens. The company has developed numerous versions of its technology, including E Ink Carta for high-contrast e-readers, E Ink Spectra for multi-color electronic shelf labels, and E Ink Prism for color-changing architectural materials. These products are sold as films and integrated into a wide array of applications, such as e-readers (Amazon Kindle, Kobo), electronic shelf labels (ESLs), digital signage, smartwatches, and even programmable, color-changing surfaces on cars and guitars.
Keywords: ePaper, electronic paper display, EPD, electrophoretic display, low-power display, digital signage, electronic shelf labels, e-reader technology, bistable display, E Ink Holdings, Prime View International, Joseph Jacobson, MIT Media Lab, E Ink Spectra, E Ink Carta, E Ink Prism, sustainable technology, reflective display, smart surfaces, digital paper