Sharp may speed plan to boost LCD panel output
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KAMEYAMA, Japan  - Japan's Sharp Corp. 6753.T   said on Tuesday it will likely need to consider bringing   forward a capacity expansion plan for its latest liquid crystal   display (LCD) panel plant in Kameyama, western Japan.
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Will a splash of color boost Dell's bottom line?
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Prototype ups high-resolution display ante with whopping 4096-by-2160 resolution.
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Japanese tech conglomerate Sharp Corp  reported a 5.5 percent rise in quarterly operating profit to a record high, as rivals delayed opening new plants, slowing price declines for the big LCD panels it specializes in.
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Sharp Corp  said on Tuesday it aims for 10 percent profit growth in the year starting in April as it brings forward a planned capacity expansion at its flagship LCD panel plant and drives LCD TV sales in China.
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Ahead: larger HDTV sets, better color, more playback and recording choices.
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Data speeds could get a boost from Intel breakthrough into processors that make and manipulate light.
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Company is working on flexible display technologies.
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By Jake Jones, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio  Feb. 3--The new LCD display from Viewsonic does wonders for cleaning up your desktop.
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In an effort to end the industry-wide shortage of blue laser diodes that occurred as a result of staggering underproduction by Sony and Nichia, the world's first two suppliers, Sharp Electronics today said it's ready to step up the mass production of diodes it's been making on a trial basis since just last month.
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Hitachi, Canon and Panasonic have agreed to a wide-ranging collaboration that will see the three companies share the cost, burden and benefits of development and production of flat-panel displays.The move comes hot on the heels of a tie-up announced last week between Toshiba and Sharp and continues a major realignment in the fast-moving industry.Under the terms of the initial agreement Canon and Panasonic will each buy a 24.9 percent stake in Hitachi Displays, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi that already makes small and medium size LCD (liquid crystal display) panels. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed before March 31, 2008.Hitachi said it hopes to accelerate the development of cutting-edge LCD technology through the alliance, which was announced on Tuesday. Competition in the flat-panel display industry is fierce and there is constant pressure on manufacturers to invest in new and efficient production technology to keep prices low and their screens technologically competitive. However a new LCD plant can easily cost US$1 billion [b] or more so companies are increasingly working together to share the costs.Meanwhile Canon said it hopes to shorten development time and gain a stable supply of LCD panels for its range of digital single-lens reflex cameras. It also hopes to develop new types of displays that can be used in its information management products.Panasonic, which has invested heavily in PDP (plasma display panel) technology for large-size flat-panel TVs and displays, will invest in a new production line at IPS Alpha Technology. The company is a joint-venture in which Canon and Toshiba also hold stakes although Toshiba is understood to be in talks concerning its exit from the venture. The new production line will help ensure a stable supply of medium-size LCD panels for Panasonic&#39;s TV up to about 40-inches in screen size, above which it uses PDPs.The wide-ranging collaboration and cooperation announced Tuesday is the first step of a series of planned moves that will eventually have Canon take control of Hitachi Displays and Panasonic take control of IPS Alpha Technology, the three companies said.In addition to the LCD alliance, Canon and Hitachi plan to work together on development of OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays. OLED is a fundamentally different technology from LCD and PDP and has been under development by many display makers for several years. It&#39;s viewed by some as a potential replacement for LCD technology because it provides a brighter and richer picture but a lot of work remains before it can be produced in sufficient volume and at a low enough price to compete with LCD.The world&#39;s first commercial OLED TV recently went on sale in Japan. Sony&#39;s XEL-1 has an 11-inch screen and is just 3-millimeters thick -- another advantage of OLED because a backlight unit isn&#39;t required -- but comes with an equally impressive &#165;200,000 (US$1,750) price tag.Last week Toshiba and Sharp announced plans to work together in the flat-panel display business. Toshiba will buy from Sharp screens for its 32-inch and larger TV sets while Sharp will buy from Toshiba the chips used in its TVs. The cooperation will begin from April next year and will slowly build towards 2010 when two goals are expected to be reached: Sharp will supply Toshiba with 40 percent of its LCD modules and Toshiba will sell to Sharp 50 percent of the chips it needs, they said.Sony and Samsung Electronics have been cooperating in LCD panel production for sometime and jointly own S-LCD, a manufacturer of cutting-edge LCD panels based in South Korea.&#160;
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Both LG and Sharp announced at the IFA electronics show in Berlin this week that the cost of LCD flat-panel televisions will fall dramatically in 2007, with prices dropping 20% to 30%. The companies attribute the expected savings to overproduction and lower manufacturing costs.
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By Kyodo News International, Tokyo  Sep. 19--OSAKA -- Sharp Corp. on Tuesday gave the media a preview of its  new factory for giant liquid crystal displays, seeking to seize a bigger share  in the overseas TV market with products equipped with LCDs made at the  state-of-the-art plant.
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By David Magliano, The Walton Sun, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.  Dec. 16--You know what size television you want, and you know how much  you want to spend, but do you know your LCD from your DLP?   You're not alone.
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Sharp Corp  said on Tuesday it  aims for 10 percent profit growth in the year starting in April  as it brings forward a planned capacity expansion at its  flagship LCD panel plant and drives LCD TV sales in China.
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(InfoWorld) - Even if you bought a TV in the last several months you may already feel like it's out of date. Your shiny new flat-screen arrives, you hook it up to the antenna and the first thing you see is a commercial for a bigger, better model. It might even have a cheaper price. It's the way things seem to work these days in the world of TVs. Things aren't likely to change any time soon. The latest buzz is around "100Hz" or "120Hz" technology, which relates to how often the image on the screen is refreshed or redrawn. The technology is already appearing in TVs, and if you haven't seen promotional stickers for it yet you probably will soon. Most TV sets today refresh the picture either 50 times per second (50Hz) or 60 times per second (60Hz) depending where in the world you live (different regions use different color formatting.) That rate is fine for most images, but when it comes to fast moving shows like sports events the images can appear blurry on an LCD (liquid crystal display) TV. Doubling the rate at which images are displayed, to 100 or 120 frames per second, makes for a better, more high-definition picture. The need to improve LCD TVs has been especially acute because their chief competitor, PDP (plasma display panel) TVs, don't have the same blurring problem. Compounding the issue is that screen sizes are getting bigger, so any imperfections are more noticeable, said Mina Naito, a spokeswoman for Sony. PDP makers have trumpeted their advantage for some time, but things may be about to change. Compared to previous LCD panels, the new 100Hz and 120Hz models are "a big improvement," said Hisakazu Torii, a TV industry analyst with DisplaySearch in Tokyo. Prototype panels with the faster refresh rate began appearing last year. At the FPD International 2006 show in Yokohama in October, Samsung ElectronicsÂ demonstrated images and text scrolling across just such a panel, and they appeared to move more smoothly than on existing LCD TVs. Then at theÂ Consumer Electronics ShowÂ in Las Vegas in January, Sony announced a 120Hz model with the Samsung screen for the U.S. market. The 70-inch LCD TV is launched this month and carries the hefty price of $33,000. Samsung plans a 70-inch set, also based on the Samsung panel, which will go on sale in the first half of this year. Competitors including Victor Co. of Japan (JVC) and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Panasonic) are also promoting 120Hz sets in Japan. The latest company to join the party isÂ Sharp, which last week said it would put five sets in its Aquos range on sale in Japan from March. The price runs from Â¥500,000 for a 42-inch model to Â¥1 million for a 65-inch model.
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Toshiba said it will buy large liquid crystal displays from Sharp as part of an alliance likely to help spark a realignment of the flat-panel TV industry.