Demand for high-quality LCD panels remains high. In the emerging markets, such as China, in particular, but also in Europe, one of the largest overseas markets for Sharp, the call for LCD TVs is rising despite the credit crunch. In addition, the market for e-signage displays is booming. To meet this development, the company is bringing forward the start of production in the first tenth-generation LCD panel factory in Sakai, Japan by five months to October 2009.
Sharp has been building a modern LCD plant in Sakai near Osaka in Japan since the end of 2007. The new production centre will be the first of the tenth generation, capable of processing LCD motherglass panels in a size of 8.7 square metres (2,880 mm x 3,130 mm). This makes these motherglass panels 60 per cent larger than those in Sharp’s current eighth-generation LCD plant, Kameyama II. They can be used to manufacture, for example six 60-inch or eight 50-inch LCD panels.
Despite the global recession, demand for high-quality LCD panels is growing, especially in the emerging markets such as China. According to DisplaySearch, the market for LCD TVs will rise by 17 per cent to some 120 million sets in 2009. In Europe, alone, estimates by Sharp show a need for 37 million TVs this year, which is 7 per cent more than last year. Sharp starts production at the new plant in Sakai six month ahead of schedule to meet the high demand. Meanwhile, LCD production in the factories in Kameyama is already running at full capacity.
Apart from the TV sector, the e-signage market is rapidly gaining in importance. According to figures published by market research company iSuppli, global demand for display components and monitors for out-of-home use as electronic posters and billboards, adverts in stations and airports, and traffic and visitor management systems etc. will increase threefold over the next four years to more than 20 million units.
Sharp’s portfolio of e-signage displays, including the new 108-inch and 82-inch formats matching characteristic dimensions of billboards and CityLight posters positions the company well to profit substantially from this development. The G10 factory in Sakai is the key to the highly efficient production of LCDs for this growth market. As further consequence of the G10 factory in Sakai the production of small- and medium-sized LCD panels can be transferred to the modern Kameyama plants. This shift in production means that displays for mobile, automotive and industrial applications can be manufactured even more efficiently with a further enhancement in quality.
"Business with LCDs and other electronic components makes up around one-third of Sharp’s sales. The construction of the G10 factory and the Shift in production are essential to remain competitive in the components' business as well", explains Maximilian Huber, President of Sharp Microelectronics Europe the significance of the new plant. In addition to the new state-of-the-art LCD factory, the 1.27-million-square-metre “Manufacturing Complex for the 21st Century” in Sakai will also house suppliers for the whole production process and infrastructure.
