Sharp to Raise LCD TV Output

January 7 2006
TOKYO, Fri: Japan’s Sharp Corp will invest about 15 billion yen (100 yen = RM3.23) to boost production capacity for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels by 18 per cent, its president said today, reflecting strong demand for LCD TVs.
Sharp, the world’s largest maker of LCD televisions, has been ramping up output of LCD panels at its flagship Kameyama factory in western Japan as consumers continue to trade in their bulkier cathode ray tube TVs for flat screen models.
Katsuhiko Machida told reporters the investment will boost the factory’s daily capacity to 2,000 sixth-generation glass (6G) substrates by April, or roughly 60,000 each month.
Currently, the plant can process about 51,000 substrates per month.
Sharp can cut six 37-inch LCD panels from one glass substrate.
“Right now we simply cannot keep up with demand,” Machida said at a New Year reception of Japanese electronics executives.
“We will use up all the space we can at the first Kameyama factory but a major issue for us will be the second plant.”
Sharp is building a second plant at Kameyama, aiming to start operations in October 2006. The new factory will cut panels from larger and more efficient eighth-generation glass, able to yield eight 45-inch panels, compared with just three using 6G glass.
“I would like to bring forward the start (of the second plant) but we are introducing new production technology and we have to monitor just how that goes,” Machida said.
Citing expectations for strong demand from consumers in the major markets of the US, Europe and Japan, Machida said he expected the global LCD TV market to nearly double to 36 million units in the business year starting in April. — Reuters