Cambridge Display Technology Ltd, the UK company developing and licensing Light Emitting Polymer technology for flat screen displays and touted eventually to replace the cathode ray tube, has won its most significant endorsement yet with the announcement that Intel Corp has invested in the company. Intel will take a minority stake in the Cambridge-based company, which recently completed a round of funding from Young Associates, former Cable & Wireless Plc chairman Lord Young’s venture capital outfit (CI No 3,243). While Intel is not keen to reveal exactly what percentage it will take, it is believed to be around 2% to 4% for now, but it will shadow the Lord Young deal, in which his investment company Light Emitting Polymer Investments BV has taken an immediate 18% for 2m pounds, rising to a possible 31% for a further 4.6m pounds over four years. Cambridge Display’s chief executive Danny Chapchal believes this is the first flat screen technology that Intel has invested in, and the first time the chip giant has invested in a UK high-tech start-up. The move seems to endorse the future potential of the technology, believed to suit a huge number of applications from electric lighting to television displays. In early January, Cambridge Display will reveal the name of its hitherto secret Japanese joint venture partner, with whom it has developed a tiny screen that shows moving pictures (CI No 3,230).
