LCD Merger Gets Boost
In a move to support technology companies striving to compete with aggressive rivals from other parts of Asia, Japan is pumping $2.6 billion into a merger of the small-panel LCD operations of three of the country’s biggest electronics makers.
From left, Toshiba Chief Executive Norio Sasaki, Hitachi President Hiroaki Nakanishi and Sony Executive Deputy President Hiroshi Yoshioka in Tokyo on Wednesday. The companies are forging an LCD joint venture.
The investment by Innovation Network Corp. of Japan will pool the small-panel liquid-crystal-display businesses run by Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Sony Corp. The new entity, to be known as Japan Display K.K., is likely to hold at least 20 percent of the fast-growing global market for panels used in smartphones and other digital gadgets.
The three companies and the government-backed investment fund, or INCJ, said Wednesday that the merger is to be completed in the spring of 2012.
