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Sharp plans to build TV, monitor plant in Poland

Sharp Corp, the world's largest liquid crystal display (LCD) TV maker, signed a 44 million euro (US$53 million) contract yesterday to build a factory in Poland to assemble televisions and monitors to meet rising demand.

Sharp expects to increase its investment in the facility to 150 million euros by 2010, the company's president, Katsushiko Machida, said after a signing ceremony.

The total value of the investment could be three times as high, with the inclusion of subcontractors and the supporting industry for the factory.

"The Sharp corporation has been searching for the most appropriate central European site for its LCD assembly, and Poland has proven to be the most suitable place," Machida said.

The factory will be located in the central Polish city of Torn and will be Sharp's second LCD assembly plant in Europe.

Osaka-based Sharp is expanding capacity to overcome a panel shortage last year that led to its Aquos-brand TVs ceding market share to Sony Corp's Bravia sets.

The company, which makes almost all of its LCD panels in Japan, is looking to build assembly plants outside of the country to increase supply of TVs and monitors in international markets.

The company is targeting a record ?3 trillion (US$25 billion) in sales in the year started April 1, and expects to sell 6 million LCD televisions worldwide, about 50 percent more than the previous year.

About 1.4 million units will be sold in the US and 1.6 million in Europe.

Last September, Poland signed a deal valued at 429 million euros with South Korea's LG.Philips for the construction of a new plant in the southern city of Wroclaw to produce displays for flat-screen television sets and computer monitors.
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