Hitachi Says It's in Discussions With Hon Hai on LCD Business Cooperation
Hitachi, Hon Hai in Talks on LCD Business Cooperation
Robert Gilhooly/Bloomberg
A man inspects Hitachi Ltd.'s Wooo 01 plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) television series.
A man inspects Hitachi Ltd.'s Wooo 01 plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) television series. Photographer: Robert Gilhooly/Bloomberg
Hitachi Ltd., Japan’s third-largest company by sales, is in talks with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. regarding “cooperation” in the liquid crystal display business, said Masanao Sato, a company spokesman.
“We are in talks with Hon Hai about a possible cooperation in the small- and mid-sized LCD business,” Sato said in a phone interview today, declining to elaborate.
Hon Hai, flagship of the Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, plans to acquire control of an LCD venture between Hitachi and Canon Inc. for 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion), the Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday. The Taipei-based company, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, declined to comment on the report in a statement to the stock exchange today.
Hon Hai shares ended unchanged for a second consecutive day at NT$117 at the 1:30 p.m. close in Taipei. Hitachi added 1 percent today to 415 yen at the 3 p.m. close of trade in Tokyo.
Hitachi spun off its display business in 2002, establishing Hitachi Displays Ltd. as a supplier of LCD panels for phones and computers.
The company unveiled its so-called in-plane switching technology in 1995, which offers wider viewing angles and clearer picture quality than competing systems, according to its Website. In-plane switching technology is used in Apple Inc.’s Mac and iPad tablet devices, according to the computer maker’s Website.
Chimei Innolux Corp., the LCD-making affiliate of the Foxconn Group, became Taiwan’s largest panel maker in March when it completed a three-way merger with Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. and TPO Displays Corp.
Chimei Innolux on July 1 said it signed a deal with Hitachi Displays to make panels on contract using the Tokyo-based company’s in-plane switching technology.
To contact the reporters on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.net; Tim Culpan in Taipei at tculpan1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page