Sharp to start production of system LCDs at its Mie plant

JUNE 3--Sharp Corporation (Camas, WA; sharp-world.com/index.html) will start production of "System LCDs" at its Mie Plant No. 3, beginning in June 2003. The early startup of this production line represents a significant boost in production capacity and will enable the company to maintain a consistent supply of these next-generation devices in the face of robust demand for use in mobile products, where the trend toward higher display resolutions combined with greater functionality continues to strengthen.

The core technology on which system LCDs are based is CG-Silicon, a material having properties close to single-crystal silicon. This technology allows peripheral circuitry and other necessary functional components to be integrated onto the same glass substrate as the display itself, enabling dramatic reductions in the surface area required for parts mounting and in the number of externally mounted components compared to existing approaches. Products equipped with these LCDs can be made more compact, thinner in profile, and lighter in weight, plus offer greater reliability. Superhigh-resolution displays capable of displaying images with the detail of gravure picture quality are possible, delivering realistic, life-like reproductions remarkably faithful to the originals. In addition, LCD displays offering even greater added value can be achieved by integrating this technology with Sharp's technologies such as advanced TFT LCD display and 3-D LCD display technologies.

This Mie No. 3 Plant was initially scheduled to begin production in October 2003, but in response to the rapid migration of LCD displays embedded in mobile equipment such as mobile phones, PDAs, and mininotebook PCs, toward higher-resolutions, the need for additional production capacity became more urgent and the planned start of operations was moved up by four months.