Oki to Buy TI Display Driver Unit

TOKYO, Feb. 22 -- Oki Electric Industry is buying Texas Instruments' (TI's) large-size thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (LCD) driver operations, the companies announced last week.

Under the agreement, TI plans to complete the transfer of the Japan-based semiconductor product line to Oki by the end of March. About 50 employees from TI's operations in Japan will transfer to Oki, based in Tokyo. Oki will take ownership of the business, which designs integrated circuits that drive LCD displays with a diagonal size of five inches or more. The transition is pending government approvals.

C.S. Lee, TI senior vice president and manager of high-volume analog and logic products, said, "We believe this transaction will enable TI to continue to sharpen our focus on proprietary analog products. TI will work with Oki to help customers receive seamless support throughout the transition."

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. TI said the sale will not affect its other display products, such as plasma display panel drivers, color cell phone driver/controllers and LCD panel timing controllers.

For more information, visit: www.ti.com