Taipei, July 11, 2011 (CENS)--Three Japanese companies, including Toshiba, Hitachi and Sony, will set up a joint venture to make small/medium-sized liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, according to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, with the move to create the world`s largest maker of small/medium-sized panels and threaten counterparts in Taiwan and South Korea.
Hitachi will join the merger negotiation between Toshiba and Sony, and the three parties will likely reach consensus as soon as in July to set up a new LCD panel plant in Japan as early as the end of the year. The Japanese government-funded Innovation Network Corp. is considering to invest about 200 billion yen (US$2.5 billion) in the project for a 70% stake, with the three companies to share the remaining.
Industry sources say the technical cooperation between Hitachi and Taiwanese partners Hon Hai Group and Chimei Innolux Corp., who makes thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels for Hitachi, will be unaffected due to inter-party agreements.
Hitachi will join the merger negotiation between Toshiba and Sony, and the three parties will likely reach consensus as soon as in July to set up a new LCD panel plant in Japan as early as the end of the year. The Japanese government-funded Innovation Network Corp. is considering to invest about 200 billion yen (US$2.5 billion) in the project for a 70% stake, with the three companies to share the remaining.
Industry sources say the technical cooperation between Hitachi and Taiwanese partners Hon Hai Group and Chimei Innolux Corp., who makes thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels for Hitachi, will be unaffected due to inter-party agreements.