Current Size: 80%
It's reported Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. said that they will mass produce next-generation organic displays, spending roughly $140 million to cash in on the growing market for the ultra-thin screens On July 22.
The announcement follows plans by South Korea's Samsung SDI Co. to expand output capacity six-fold, dwarfing Japanese firms' current production of active-matrix OLED displays. Display makers are jockeying for share in the fast growing market for organic displays, which are slimmer and consume less battery power than liquid crystal screens.
Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., 60-percent owned by Toshiba and 40-percent by Matsushita, plans to invest about $140 million by late 2009 to make the equivalent of 1 million 2.5-inch panels a month, a spokesman of the joint venture said. Toshiba Matsushita has no plans at the moment to mass produce larger displays for TVs. The panels would be used in mobile phones and car navigation systems.
It's reported Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Arima Optoelectronics has stressed that its finances and operations remain healthy despite heavy losses in 1Q.
The company saw its June sales drop 59% on year to NT$104 million, with a net loss of NT$82 million for the month. It posted net losses of NT$124 million for the first quarter of 2008. It attributed the poor results to the spinning off its laser diode business last August, and fierce pricing amid weak demand.
The company expects orders for July and August to stay flat compared to June, and growth for the third quarter will not be as strong as the growth it had during the high season in the past, through restructuring and personnel downsizing, it expects to put losses under control in the second half of the year.
