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Sharp to focus on green products

Sharp's president said yesterday the Japanese electronics maker would fight global warming by making environmentally friendly TV displays and solar energy products -- its two core businesses.

Sharp president Mikio Katayama said the company would strive to develop the world's "No. 1" liquid crystal displays (LCD) for flat-panel TVs.

He said one of the key benefits of LCD TVs is that they consume less electricity than conventional televisions.

Sharp is one of the world's biggest manufacturers of LCD TVs along with Japanese rival Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea. The company is also a leading manufacturer of solar cells, which generate electricity using sunlight.

clean energy

"We plan to contribute to preventing global warming through clean energy," Katayama told reporters at a Tokyo hotel.

Sharp said it would boost production of LCD panels for the manufacture of its own TVs and other brands.

Sharp plans to raise monthly production at its LCD plant from 60,000 sheets to 90,000 in July -- earlier than originally planned -- to meet growing demand for flat panel TVs, Katayama said.

That will also help cut costs, he said.

Competition has been intensifying among TV producers, with various manufacturers vying to show ever larger and thinner panels to woo consumers with elegant TVs that can be hung on walls or placed on thin poles.

strategy

LCD TVs will account for about 45 percent of overall worldwide demand for televisions this year, Katayama said in a New Year's media conference that laid out the company's strategy for the year.

He said LCD TVs consume about 60 percent of the energy used by picture-tube TVs, and Sharp is developing new LCD TVs that will reduce that to about 50 percent.

Sharp has already shown a 52-inch prototype LCD panel just 29mm thick that consumes less energy than today's LCD or plasma display panel sets. It also showed yesterday a 65-inch prototype panel that's the same thickness.
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