Plastic Logic receives massive $700 million Russian investment

Who can forget the Plastic Logic Que proReader — a textbook study on the vaporous gadget. Start with an incredible (but truthful) claim to have developed plastic semiconductors that could be used to fabricate flexible e-reader displays . Then follow up the breakthrough with the all-important consumer tease : an amazing (for the time) 8.5 x 11-inch e-reader with a gesture-based UI that would launch in the first half of 2009. Unfortunately, the Que never shipped and was ultimately canceled , partly because of reliability issues associated with manufacturing those early Que displays and partly because of the launch of a rather disruptive Apple tablet you might have read about. Fast forward to today and we’ve got the state-owned Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies ( Rusnano ) announcing a $700 million investment in the US-based Plastic Logic Inc. Why? Are you listening? Plastics. Here’s how this “unprecedented” investment was described by Georgy Kolpachev, Rusnano’s managing director: “Flexible plastic electronic displays will provide another major milestone in how people process information. Entering this new disruptive segment at the stage of its inception gives Russia a chance to win a leading position in global market of future electronics.” The investment will be used to pay off Plastic Logic’s debt including a $50 million loan the company took out after approaching financial collapse. The rest will be used for a second plastic electronics factory in Russia (a sister to the Dresden Germany plant) which is expected to start production in 2013 or 2014. Plastic Logic receives massive $700 million Russian investment originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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