The display manufacturer Sharp makes a variety of liquid crystal displays (LCD) for the smartphone market. They’re now looking to spin-off the part for the mobile displays, at least that is what reports out of the manufacturing industry in Japan are saying. Sharp is now facing its third annual net loss in the past four years and they’re now promising a restructure in exchange for renewed funding, the restructure will probably include the selling of the LCD business.
Sharp is now looking for a capital injection of 100 billion yen from Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (INCJ), the fund is overseen by the Ministry of Economy of Japan. The government of Japan launched the INCJ fund in 2009, to improve the competitiveness of its technology sector, and already owns 35 percent of their rival company Japan Display.
A part of the reason why Sharp wants to spin of the LCD business is due to the increasingly tough competition. The dominance that Samsung has with their AMOLED technology in high-end Samsung devices has put more pressure on LCD developers to improve their technology. In the same time LG Display and Japan Display have both been aggressively marketing their panels to a variety of smartphone manufacturers, including the fast growing start-up companies. Sharp is responsible for roughly a third of display shipping’s to Chinese manufacturers, but it’s facing tough competition over pricing.
Sharp previous denied rumors that they would sell their LCD manufacturing part. However, the spokesman of the company told it a little different. He confirmed that the company is considering a restructure to the LCD business, although no decisions have been finalized. The restructuring plans are expected to be announced in May.
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