Plastic Logic is raising $700 million to build a new factory for building next-generation plastic displays. The funding is coming from government-owned Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano). Initally the company will receive $150 million and Oak Investment Partners will put in another $50 million.

Dutch company IREX Technologies and Barnes & Noble have made an alliance.  IREX is the second e-book reader company to have partnered with Barnes & Noble with Plastic Logic being the first.  Plastic Logic plans to launch an e-book reader next year itself.

IREX said that their partnership with Barnes & Noble will not be exclusive.  IREX is already selling e-book readers in Europe, but not yet in the U.S.  Irex’s e-book reader will have an 8.1″ touch screen and 3G wireless connection.

“We will change the dynamics of the consumer market – users want to easily purchase content from a variety of sources and we allow them to read it on an IREX eReader as well as other devices,” stated Irex North American CEO Kevin Hamilton.

Plastic Logic announced in a press release that its e-book reader will feature AT&T 3G. Barnes & Noble’s ebook store is the exclusive content supplier for the upcoming reader. The reader hopes to compete with Amazon’s Kindle.

The press release did not mention anything about pricing but an extra fee is likely involved. AT&T will slap a fee onto anything. The Kindle’s wireless access is provided by Sprint at no extra charge.

The reader uses E-ink technology. It is under .25 inches think and weighs less than a magazine. It comes with a touch screen and has Wi-Fi support.