The Kopin Corporation () is a

Westborough, Massachusetts Westborough is a New England town, town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,567 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, in over 7,000 households. Incorporated in 1717, the town is governed under the N ...

-based electronics manufacturer, best known for its micro

display device A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signa ...

s and application specific optical solutions for defense, enterprise, medical and consumer mobile electronics.

Microdisplays

Founder and former Chairman, President and CEO John C.C. Fan describes the company's growth strategy as being based on expanding the range of applications for microdisplays. Kopin's first CyberDisplay product debuted in 1999 in a

JVC JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developin ...

digital camera; it featured a 320x240 pixel display with a diagonal measurement. In 2007, the

Olympus Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of optics and reprography products, headquartered in Hachioji, Tokyo. Olympus was established in 1919, initially specializing in microscopes and thermometers, and later in imaging. Olympus holds roughly a 70 percent sh ...

chose a Kopin CyberDisplay with

QVGA A display resolution standard is a commonly used width and height dimension (display resolution) of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain com ...

-level resolution for inclusion as a viewfinder in its SP-550 UZ model. In 2012, the company's newest CyberDisplay model had a diagonal measurement of with

VGA Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the IBM PC compatible industry within three years. T ...

-level resolution of 640x480 pixels. Outside of the consumer market, Kopin's microdisplays have also been used in electronics devices aimed at the military and law enforcement officers. In 2008, the United States Army awarded Kopin with the first phase of a $4.2 million program aimed at producing microdisplays more quickly and improving their performance, with the aim of incorporating them in

night vision device A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD) or night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The ...

Other products

Kopin also previously manufactured

heterojunction bipolar transistor A heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is a type of bipolar junction transistor (BJT) that uses different semiconductor materials for the emitter and base regions, creating a heterojunction. The HBT improves on the BJT in that it can handle si ...

Acquisitions

In January 2011, Kopin acquired British optoelectronics company Forth Dimension Displays (FDD) for £7 million in cash. Kopin's former president John Fan indicated in media comments that Kopin was especially interested in FDD's ultra-high resolution reflective microdisplays and time domain imaging technology.

Controversy

In July 1999,

Neil Bush Neil Mallon Bush (born January 22, 1955) is an American businessman and investor. He is the fourth of six children of former president George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush (née Pierce). His five siblings are George W. Bush; Jeb Bush, a former go ...

, (son to President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

and brother to President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

) made at least $798,000 on three stock trades in a single day of Kopin Corp. where he had been employed as a consultant. The company announced on the same day good news about a new Asian client that sent its stock value soaring. Bush stated that he had no inside knowledge and that his financial advisor had recommended the trades. He said, "any increase in the price of the stock on that day was purely coincidental, meaning that I did not have any improper information." When asked in January 2004 about the stock trades, Bush contrasted the capital gains he reported in 1999 and 2000 with the capital losses on Kopin stock he reported ($287,722 in all) in 2001. In 2001 Kopin joined a broad decline in high-tech stock valuations.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Electronics companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts Taunton, Massachusetts