Backed by Japanese government fund, Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi will set up a joint venture for small- and medium-sized flat panel displays (FPD), which aims to become the market leader, posing a major threat to other market players, including Chimei-Innolux in Taiwan.

Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japanese government fund will chip in 70% of the capital of the venture, with the remaining 30% stake to be shared by the three companies evenly. The joint venture will strive for winning the orders from Apple.

Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi jointly possess a 21.5% share of the global market for small- and medium-sized FPD at present, exceeding the shares of Sharp and Chimei-Innolux. In addition, Hitachi owns IPS (in-panel switching) technology which is embraced by FPD of iPhone and iPad. Chimei-Innolux, for instance, licensed IPS technology from Hitach, enabling it to join the supply chain of iPad FPD.

Chimei-Innolux, however, appeared undaunted by the setup of the joint venture. Hsieh Chin-yi, vice president of Chimei-Innolux, pointed to the close technological cooperation between the company and Hitachi, saying that Chimei-Innolux may even receive orders from the joint venture should it suffer from shortage of capacity.

Hsieh Chin-yi, vice president of Display Search, an industry research body, remarked that the joint venture is a dream team, as Hitachi excels in IPS, Toshiba in LTPS, and Sony in OLED, all being critical technologies for smart phones and tablet PCs.

Backed by Japanese fund, the joint venture will make an all-out effort to win Apple orders, posing a major threat to its Taiwanese competitors.

source & copyright: CENS
 
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