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Sharp to double output of large-sized LCD screens

Sharp Corp, Japan's largest maker of liquid-crystal displays and mobile phones, will double production of large-sized LCD screens next month, two months ahead of schedule, to meet demand for its Aquos flat-panel televisions.

The new line at the Kameyama factory in central Japan will double Sharp's large-screen output to 30,000 glass substrates a month, the Osaka-based company said yesterday. The glass plates can each make eight 40-inch panels or six 50-inch screens.

President Katsuhiko Machida is extending Sharp's lead as the biggest profit generator in the US$44 billion global LCD market by producing larger, high-definition screens more efficiently than rivals. The company in October raised its annual sales forecast for LCD panels to ¥1.03 trillion (US$8.7 billion) from a previous projection for ¥980 billion.

Sharp began production at Kameyama in August, becoming the first company to operate a so-called eighth-generation line that makes the large screens. Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co, the world's largest maker of LCD panels, plans to begin production at its eighth-generation plant during the second half of next year.

Sharp, ranked by researcher DisplaySearch below Royal Philips Electronics NV and Samsung in global LCD TV sales, is focusing on gaining market share overseas. The company is doubling its advertising budget to promote its Aquos TV sets in markets outside of Japan, the company said in September.

Sharp gets about 22 percent of sales from LCD panels, and about 40 percent from the division that makes the LCD TVs and mobile phones.
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