Sharp, Sony Plan LCD Co.

Sharp Corp. and Sony Corp. announced today a joint venture to produce and sell large-sized LCD panels and modules using an LCD panel plant Sharp is building in Sakai City, Osaka, to make 10th-generation mother glass substrates.

"The new company will endeavor to rapidly establish full and stable manufacturing operations at a new state-of-the-art facility producing large-sized LCD panels, and, in coordination with other companies concerned, will realize the vision of 'Manufacturing Complex for the 21st Century,'" Sony said in a statement. (See also: Corning, Sharp to Share Plant; Sharp Plans New LCD Plant)

The plant has a production capacity of 72,000 substrates per month (initially 36,000 substrates panels/month), Sony said.

The new company is set to be established in April 2009, pending further discussion, and to begin operating at the end of fiscal year 2009, Sony said. Its name will be determined. The companies have signed a nonbinding memorandum of intent and said they will negotiate legally binding joint venture documents by Sept. 30.

The collaboration will strengthen Sharp's advanced LCD display technologies and Sony's competitiveness in the TV market, the companies said. Once the agreement becomes effective, subject to necessary government approvals, the new joint venture will "seek to maximize advantages gained from using the world's first tenth-generation glass substrates to produce large-sized LCD panels and modules that deliver the industry's highest levels of quality, cost and performance."

These will be sold to each company in quantities corresponding to their respective investments (Sharp: 66 percent, Sony 34 percent), according to the statment, with their total investment to be determined.

The companies said they will also discuss the possibility of jointly developing components for LCD modules.

For more information, visit: sony.com