Major Japanese electronics firms Toshiba and Sony are in talks to unify operations in small LCD panels for hot-selling smartphones and tablet computers, a report said yesterday.
The two companies would set up a new entity expected to overtake Japanese rival Sharp as the world’s top manufacturer of small and medium-sized LCD panels, the Nikkei Business Daily said.
The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, a public-private fund set up in 2009 to promote innovative businesses, would put up more than ￥100 billion (US$1.2 billion) for the new company, the paper said without naming its source.
The money would be used to build new manufacturing lines in Japan, it said, adding the investment would give the fund a stake of 70 percent to 80 percent in the new company with Sony and Toshiba expected to hold the remaining stake.
Toshiba and Sony are currently in the final stage of negotiations on the alliance and aim to reach a basic accord by the end of this month, it said.
No immediate comment on the report was available from Toshiba.
A Sony spokesman said “no decision has been made at the moment” on the reported alliance and declined to comment further.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s largest maker of televisions and flat-screen panels, was accused in a lawsuit filed by electronics retailer BrandsMart USA Inc of conspiring to artificially inflate LCD prices.
The companies formed an “international cartel” to restrict production of LCD panels used in televisions, mobile phones and computer monitors from 1996 to 2006, according to the complaint by Interbond Corporation of America, which does business as BrandsMart USA.
“The conspiracy affected -billions of dollars of commerce throughout the United States,” Interbond said in the complaint filed on June 3 in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Fifteen companies, plus units of some of them, are named as defendants in the lawsuit by Florida-based Interbond.
At least 22 display-industry executives have been criminally charged in a US probe into LCD price fixing. Eight companies have also been charged in the investigation which has netted more than US$890 million in criminal fines, according to the US Department of Justice.
Adam Yates, a US spokesman for Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung, did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
The LCD manufacturers held what they called “crystal meetings” between high and mid-level executives monthly and sometimes quarterly, in which they would agree to price and supply controls, according to Interbond’s complaint. The Japanese companies initiated the meetings and then brought the South Korean and Taiwanese producers into the conspiracy when they entered the market, Interbond said.
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