Arasor International Ltd. of Mountain View, Calif., an Australian-based maker of an optoelectronic chip that drives laser-based display applications (so-called "laser TV"), has entered into a $300 million joint venture with ZTE Corp. (Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Co. Ltd.) of China to develop and manufacture laser displays in televisions, projectors and mobile devices including cellular phones, PDAs and notebooks. Arasor will own 51 percent of the joint venture. Arasor said the agreement enables it to achieve large-scale external funding for laser development and production, to work with a major handset provider and to reach extensive and scalable manufacturing capacity. Under phase 1 of the agreement, to run from 2008 to 2010, the China Development Bank will provide up to $300 million in financing. Production is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2008 and eventually to produce 6 million laser sources and 2.4 million light engines for cellular phones per year. Phase 2 (2011-2012) will be based on benchmarks achieved duing phase 1. Arasor said in a statement that the effort will be the first dedicated to global deployment of applications based on laser display technology. Manufacturing will take place at Arasor, ZTE and joint facilities in China. The laser source for the display applications will use Arasor's optoelectronic chip; each source will require a set of three chips representing the primary colors of red, green and blue. Simon Cao, CEO of Arasor, said, “I am very excited about this joint venture and believe that it will accelerate the deployment of laser-based display applications, starting with televisions and projectors and eventually to all forms of cellular phones. Further, partnering with ZTE and the China Development Bank will provide all of the necessary commercial and financial support required to complete the supply chain and ensure the accelerated penetration of laser displays into the global markets. As the largest provider of mobile handsets in China, ZTE makes the perfect cornerstone customer for the joing venture." He added, "Laser technology will be at the heart of next-generation display light sources that will provide consumers with a full range of benefits including access to enhanced spectrum of colors, significantly lower power consumption, larger range of screen sizes and overall product cost savings." For more information, visit: www.arasor.net