Universal Display Corporation (OLED) has a particularly circular relationship with Merck KGaA (MRK). The company discloses Merck as a seller of OLED-related intellectual property, then lists the same company among its competitors in OLED materials. LG Display (LPL) appears in a different two-sided role: customer and partner.
The Merck relationship starts with patents, not a routine raw-materials purchase. In a filing dated November 6, 2025, Universal Display described an agreement involving its Irish subsidiary.
"Under this agreement, Merck KGaA will sell to UDC Ireland all of its rights, title and interest to certain of its OLED-related patents and patent applications in exchange for a cash payment of $ 50.0 million."
Universal Display / filing / 2025-11-06
In plain English, Universal Display disclosed paying $50 million for Merck KGaA’s rights to a defined set of OLED patents and applications. A later filing also gives the relationship its own heading.
"Merck KGaA Patent Acquisition In April 2023, UDC Ireland entered into a Patent Sale and License Agreement with Merck KGaA."
Universal Display / 10-Q / 2026-04-30
That makes Merck a disclosed intellectual-property counterparty, with the transaction described as both a patent sale and a license agreement. But the map does not stop there. Universal Display’s 2025 filing also puts Merck KGaA in its list of material OLED-material manufacturers and competitors. The company names Merck alongside Sumitomo, Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Kyulux, Summer Sprout Technology, UIV OLED, Aglaia Tech, Jilin OLED Photoelectric Materials Co., Ltd., and Nanjing Topto Semiconductor. Those other names appear in the filing’s competitive set, but the supplied disclosures do not assign them separate customer, supplier, or partner roles here.
LG Display occupies a more commercially direct spot. Universal Display says LG Display was among the largest customers for its PHOLED materials in 2025.
"In 2025, 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) and…"
Universal Display / 10-K / 2026-02-19
The sentence does not give LG Display a standalone percentage, but it does place the company inside Universal Display’s disclosed largest-customer group. LG Display is also tied to Universal Display through an older commercial agreement.
"In 2015, we entered into an OLED patent license agreement and an OLED commercial supply agreement with LG Display Co., Ltd. (LG Display)."
Universal Display / 10-Q / 2026-04-30
So LG Display is disclosed in two roles: buyer of PHOLED materials and counterparty to a patent license and commercial supply agreement. The filing map is less a straight line than a small OLED knot.
PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG) appears on the supplier side, though Universal Display describes the relationship in the context of its broader research and technology work.
"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…"
Universal Display / 10-K / 2026-02-19
The disclosure names PPG as a supplier relationship, while emphasizing that most of Universal Display’s critical commercial technologies came from internal research. Finally, Universal Display traces OLED competition back to Eastman Kodak Company (KODK).
"Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) developed and patented the original fluorescent OLED technology in 1987."
Universal Display / 10-K / 2026-02-19
That is historical context rather than a current customer or supplier tie. Still, it rounds out the disclosed map: Merck is a patent counterparty and named competitor, LG Display is both customer and partner, PPG is a named supplier, and Kodak is part of the technology’s competitive history.