Sharp Display Products emerges from Sharp / Sony joint venture
It's been just over a year since we first heard that your next Sony LCD TV may actually be a Sharp, and while the joint venture has been flipped on and off again during the past 13 months, it seems that the stars are finally aligning in order to make this thing happen. Sharp is preparing a unit that will be launched on April 1st in order to act as "a base to be transformed into the joint venture." The unit will be christened Sharp Display Products Corporation, with Sharp owning 66 percent (and thus, the namesake) and Sony taking the remaining 34 percent. The two currently plan to start up production of LCD panels by March of 2010, which gives Sharp a solid dozen months to construct the facility in Sakai, Japan. Better hurry, folks -- it's not like OLED is breathing down your neck or anything.
