After almost two years of construction and an investment totalling approximately three billion euros, a new era has been ushered in for Sharp with the completion of its new LCD plant in Sakai. The LCD pioneer is the very first company in the world with the capability to process LCD panels employing 10th-generation glass substrates measuring 2.88 x 3.13 metres, into LCDs for TV sets and professional monitors. The 10th-generation glass substrate is 70 per cent larger than the 8th-generation glass substrates used in Kameyama plant No.2. A further superlative: with a maximum annual input capacity of 72,000 glass substrates. Sharp will be capable in future of manufacturing 13 million 40-inch LCD TV panels per year.

“We brought forward the start of production in response to the huge increase in demand for advanced LCD technology,” said Fumio Yamaguchi, MD Sharp Middle East and Africa. In Sakai we have the necessary know-how and capacity to manufacture our current AQUOS LED TV line-up with the latest generation of LCD panels and further consolidate our technology leadership,” Yamaguchi continues. The factory in Sakai is the key to the highly efficient production of LCDs for this growth market.

The manufacturing complex in Sakai, whose 1.27 million square metres of space will also house Sharp’s plant for thin-film solar cell, scheduled to start operation by March 2010. The complex is equipped with an LED lighting system: It will be illuminated entirely by means of more than 100,000 energy-saving light-emitting diodes. In addition, 18-megawatt solar panels will be installed on all factory roofs to provide some of the needed electricity.This will underline both our LCD innovation leadership and also our ambitious claim to be an Environmental Advanced Company,” declares Yamaguchi.

Business with LCD and other electronic components makes up about one-third of Sharp’s sales.

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