eMagin is a maker of OLED microdisplays that are used in the medical and military fields. However, it has been shifting focus recently to create OLED microdisplays for virtual reality headsets.
The investment into eMagin was made via it issuing new stock to the companies. The deal was expected to be completed in January. The investment into eMagin makes sense for Apple. It has been pushing augmented reality lately and may have plans to launch its own headset in the next couple of years.
LG and Valve have already been working together on a VR headset. Many companies are predicting that AR and VR as the next major focus of technology. Use of VR and AR is growing in video games, and will likely continue to spread to other aspects of technology in the near future.
“We entered into strategic agreements with multiple Tier One consumer product companies for the design and development of microdisplays for consumer head mounted devices and, together with these companies, negotiated with mass production manufacturers for higher volume production capabilities,” eMagin said in an SEC filing obtained by Cnet.
A rumor that came out back in January said that Apple met with suppliers of AR parts while at CES 2018. It’s possible that eMagin was one of these companies, but there’s not enough to confirm this is the case.