WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Kopin Corporation (Nasdaq: KOPN), a leading developer of micro-displays and innovative wearable computing technologies and solutions, today announced two agreements with two leading global OLED companies as part of its unique fab-less OLED manufacturing strategy for its silicon-based Lightning™ OLED displays introduced at CES in January 2017. Kopin sees continued market indicators of high demand of OLED micro-displays for both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in the coming years and these new agreements represent important steps in preparing to meet both the near-term and long-term demands.

Kopin signed an agreement with Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-electronics Technology Co. Ltd. (OLiGHTEK), a leader in high performance OLED micro-displays on silicon. The parties will jointly purchase an advanced production OLED deposition line to be installed within OLiGHTEK’s facility in order to augment OLiGHTEK’s existing capabilities. This OLED deposition line is expected to be ready for volume production by the end of 2017, enabling Kopin to meet the near-term customer demand for its consumer OLED micro-displays. Under the terms of the agreement, Kopin will be entitled to 50% of the new line output.

Kopin has also entered into a separate agreement with BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd. (BOE) and OLiGHTEK. The agreement will establish a high-volume, state of the art facility to manufacture OLED micro-displays to support the growing AR and VR markets. The new facility, which would be the world’s largest OLED-on-silicon manufacturing center, will be managed by BOE and is expected to be built in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. BOE is a world leader in the manufacture of liquid crystal and OLED on glass displays for televisions, tablets and smartphones.

“We have received extremely positive response to our Lightning OLED displays which have superb image quality, small size, fast frame-rate and low power consumption,” said Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin’s President and CEO. “We have a fab-less manufacturing model both for the back-end silicon wafer processing and the front-end OLED deposition for our Lightning OLED displays. This is a first in the OLED micro-display industry, and today’s announcements represent important elements of our fab-less model. Our partnership with OLiGHTEK will enable us to begin volume production of our Lightning OLED displays in late 2017. The agreement between BOE, OLiGHTEK and Kopin will provide industry leading capacity and quality of OLED micro-displays for the growing AR and VR markets when the facility is completed.”

Neither of these new agreements involves licensing of any Kopin technologies.

About BOE

BOE (Shenzhen Stock Exchange Stock Code: BOE A (000725), BOE B (200725)) is a supplier of internet of things technologies, products and services with revenues of approximately $7.3 billion for fiscal year 2015. BOE’s three core businesses are Display Device, Smart System and Healthcare Service. BOE’s products are widely used in a broad spectrum of applications such as mobile phone, tablet, notebook, monitor, TV, vehicle display, digital information display, healthcare, finance, and wearable devices. For more information, please visit BOE’s website at www.boe.com.

About Olightek

Founded in 2008, Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-Electronic Technology Co. Ltd. (OLiGHTEK) dedicated themselves to developing high definition AMOLED (Active Matrix-Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology and microdisplays. With headquarter and manufacturing in Kunming, Yunnan, OLiGHTEK is the first company in China to design and manufacture the cutting-edge full digital AMOLED microdisplays and entered the market in 2009. So far, more than 10 key OLED patents have been granted officially for OLiGHTEK’s speciality and innovation. OLiGHTEK is also the biggest manufacturer of full digital AMOLED microdisplays in China with annual production of more than 450,000 panels. OLiGHTEK’s high quality products for near-to-eye applications are shipped to many customers worldwide. For more information, please visit OLiGHTEK’s’s website at www.olightek.com.

About Kopin

Kopin Corporation is a leading developer and provider of innovative wearable technologies and solutions for integration into head-worn computing and display systems to military, industrial and consumer customers. Kopin’s technology portfolio includes ultra-small LED and OLED displays, optics, speech enhancement technology, system and hands-free control software, low-power ASICs, and ergonomically designed smart headset reference systems. Kopin is the world’s leader in microdisplays. Over the years, Kopin has shipped over 30 million LCD microdisplays for consumer applications. Kopin’s proprietary components and technology are protected by more than 300 global patents and patents pending. For more information, please visit Kopin’s website at www.kopin.com.

Kopin and Lightning OLED are trademarks of Kopin Corporation.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release may be considered “forward-looking” statements under the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements relating to our statement that we see continued market indicators of high demand of OLED micro-displays for both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in the coming years; that these new agreements represent important steps in preparing to meet both the near-term and long-term demands; our expectation that the OLED deposition line which we are jointly purchasing with OLiGHTEK will be ready for volume production by the end of 2017, enabling Kopin to meet the near-term customer demand for its consumer OLED micro-displays; our expectation that the agreement between Kopin, BOE and OLiGHTEK will establish a state of the art, high-volume facility to manufacture consumer-focused OLED micro-displays; our belief that the AR and VR markets are growing; our expectation that the new facility will be built on a 20 acres parcel of land in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China;our belief that the facility will be the world’s largest OLED on Si manufacturing center; our expectation that the facility will be completed within two years; our expectation that our partnership with OLiGHTEK will enable us to begin volume production of our Lightning OLED in late 2017; and our belief that the agreement between BOE, OLiGHTEK and Kopin will provide industry leading capacity and quality for the growing augmented and virtual reality markets when the facility is completed. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:the AR and VR markets may not grow; there may not be demand for our products; the OLED deposition equipment may not be able to produce product by the end of 2017 or ever; we may not be able to provide significant quantities of our consumer OLED displays; the state of the art high volume facility may not be completed within the time frame we expect; there may be issues with obtaining permits, materials and other issues which may prevent the building of the facility; we may not be able to obtain the 20 acres parcel of land in Kunming Yunnan Province China and therefore have to find an alternative site which may cause delays in building the facility; the wearable market may not grow fast; it may take longer than the Company estimates to develop products; the Company’s products may not be accepted by the market place; there may be issues that prevent the adoption or further development of the Company’s wearable computing technologies; manufacturing, marketing or other issues may prevent either the adoption or acceptance of products; the Company might be adversely affected by competitive products and pricing; new product initiatives and other research and development efforts may be unsuccessful; the Company could experience the loss of significant customers; costs to produce the Company’s products might increase significantly, or yields could decline; the Company’s customers might be unable to ramp production volumes of their products, manufacturing delays, technical issues, economic conditions or external factors may prevent the Company from achieving its goals; and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed in the Company’s periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the 12 months ended December 31, 2016, and the Company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are based only on information currently available to the Company and only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.

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