Japanese small-LCD merger talks continue between Sony, Toshiba, and now Hitachi

July 6, 2011
Japan--Hitachi is now in talks with Toshiba and Sony about joining the merger of their LCD units—a move that would create the world's largest small-panel LCD conglomerate.

Japan--According to a story from Reuters based on information from two sources "with knowledge on the matter," Hitachi is now in talks with Toshiba and Sony about joining the merger of their liquid-crystal display (LCD) unitsa move that would create the world's largest maker of small panels. Hitachi has already been in separate talks with Hon Hai Precision Industry (Taiwan) about a joint venture in LCD panels but those talks have hit difficulties, one of the sources said, making Hitachi more likely to join the domestic Japanese partnership.

If the three-way alliance goes ahead, the mainly government-funded Innovation Network Corporation of Japan will consider investing about 200 billion yen ($2.5 billion dollars) in the merged unit. The Nikkei newspaper earlier reported the government fund would likely gain a 70% stake for that amount and the three companies would then split the remaining interest.

Even though Hitachi declined to comment, Toshiba and Sony are negotiating to merge subsidiaries making the small LCD panels, which are used in tablets and smartphones, as they battle harsh competition from Asian rivals like Samsung (Korea). Hitachi wants to distance itself from the volatile panel business, which requires regular large-scale investment to keep up with cut-throat price competition, in order to focus on its social infrastructure business.

Japan's Sharp Corporation, currently the world's largest maker of small LCD panels, said this month it would switch most production at one of its TV panel plants to small panels.

SOURCE: Reuters; www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/30/us-hitachi-sony-toshiba-idUSTRE75T0B420110630

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.

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