Sharp Installs Second Production Line for Large LCD Panels

July 28, 2004

In response to expanding demand for large LCD panels for LCD TVs, Sharp Corporation will install a second production line for large-format LCDs within the Kameyama Plant, in which the company will start operation in August, 2004, as scheduled initially.

The Kameyama Plant is an innovative, state-of-the-art, vertically integrated facility designed to streamline production and inspection/testing processes as well as enhance material flow. This plant will bring together in a single operation Sharp's proprietary LCD and video imaging technologies developed over 31 and over 50 years of experience in these fields. By integrating start-to-finish production of large-screen LCD TVs in a single plant, Sharp further enhanced the upward spiral effect resulting from the synergistic interplay of core devices and end-user products. The LCD panel-manufacturing line utilizes the world-first*1 large-format 1,500 x 1,800-mm substrates, achieving high production efficiency with Sharp's exclusive process technology.

LCD TVs are expected to increase rapidly in demand with the penetration of terrestrial digital broadcast, and in addition, the component ratio of LCD TVs to the total world demand for color TVs is only several percent*2 for fiscal 2004, earning them a still larger potential demand. In this light, with the installation of the new second production line, Sharp will roughly double its substrate input capacity to a 27,000 sheets per month, compared to when the plant initially came on-line in January 2004, to construct a stable supply framework to meet burgeoning demand for LCD panels for TVs, while further improving production efficiency and strengthening price competitiveness, to expand the market for LCD TVs.

Source: Sharp Corp.