Sharp to Invest $1.5 Billion In New LCD Plant in Japan
Sharp Corp. said it will invest about $1.5 billion to build a state-of-the-art factory for liquid-crystal display panels, as the Japanese electronics company works to counter competition from rivals in South Korea and Taiwan.
The factory will start production in October 2006, and will use so-called eighth-generation glass sheets that measure 2.16 meters by 2.4 meters. That is big enough to make panels for eight 40-inch-class televisions or six 50-inch-class televisions from a single piece of glass, and it is a larger size than any rival is using.
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The plant using the next-largest size of glass is a seventh-generation factory being built jointly by Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Corp., which is scheduled to start production early this year. In LCD panel production, bigger glass sheets generally mean lower manufacturing costs, since companies can cut more panels from one piece.
Sharp's aggressive plans highlight the competition and speed of development in the hot market for flat panels used in televisions.
The new plant will be built alongside Sharp's Kameyama plant, which makes television LCD panels in Mie Prefecture.
Sharp , based in Osaka, started production at the existing Kameyama LCD panel factory a year ago. At the time it was the newest-generation LCD plant in the world. But the plant uses sixth-generation glass -- good for the 30-inch-class panels popular in Japanese televisions but not big enough to efficiently produce the 40- and 50-inch panels in growing demand.
Meanwhile, rivals such as Samsung and LG Philips LCDCo. of South Korea or AU Optronics Corp. of Taiwan either opened or started building similar or more-advanced plants. To compete, as well as meet growing demand, "we need to increase our production capacity," said Sharp President Katsuhiko Machida at the company's annual new year media briefing.
The new factory will have the capacity to process 15,000 glass sheets per month and will double that capacity in 2007, Sharp said. Sharp is the world's largest supplier of LCD TVs, but lags behind Samsung, LG Philips and AU Optronics in supplying LCD panels.
Mr. Machida said the spread of terrestrial digital broadcasting world-wide is expected to sharply boost demand for high-definition LCD TVs.
Sharp forecasts global LCD TV demand will rise to 12.4 million units in the next fiscal year ending in March 2006 and 22.6 million units in the following year, up from the expected seven million units in the current fiscal year. Sharp executives said the company's LCD panels will be able to go head-to-head with plasma panels in big television sizes where plasma was thought to have an edge because of better value for money.
In the large-screen TV market, "we will fight it out against plasma TVs," Sharp Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Shigeo Misaka said.
Mr. Machida said he expects global demand for LCD TVs to beat that for plasma TVs in unit shipments next year in the 37-inch or higher flat TV market.
夏普计划建造尖端的液晶面板工厂
夏普公司(Sharp Corp.)表示将投资大约15亿美元建造使用尖端技术的液晶显示器面板生产厂，此举旨在应对韩国和台湾地区竞争对手的激烈竞争。
新工厂将于2006年10月起投入生产，该工厂将使用尺寸为2.16米＊2.4米的所谓第八代玻璃板。一张这样的玻璃板足以为8台40英寸的电视机或6台50英寸的电视机制造显示器面板，这一尺寸超过了所有竞争对手所使用玻璃板的尺寸。
目前使用第二大尺寸玻璃板的工厂是正由三星电子(Samsung Electronics Co.)和索尼(Sony Corp.)联合建造的一家第七代工厂，该工厂定于今年年初开始生产。在液晶面板的生产当中，玻璃板越大通常意味著制造成本越低，因为一张玻璃板可以生产更多的面板。
夏普雄心勃勃的计划凸现出电视机平面面板市场激烈的竞争程度和日新月异的发展速度。
夏普称，新工厂将拥有每月处理15,000张玻璃板的生产能力，并会在2007年将生产量增加一倍。目前，夏普是世界最大的液晶电视供应商，但在液晶面板供应方面落后于三星、LG Philips以及友达光电(AU Optronics)等公司。
