The price war from Chinese manufacturers has made it unsustainable for the Japanese company to continue producing displays at home.
Sharp, the pioneer in LCD technology and known for its high-quality televisions, has announced the closure of its LCD panel factory in Sakai, Japan. The decision, taken by parent company Foxconn, marks the end of an era for the Japanese company, which will no longer be able to produce displays competitively due to aggressive competition from Chinese manufacturers.
The Osaka factory, operated by its subsidiary Sakai Display Products (SDP), will close by the end of September, according to what Nikkei learned: Its closure will mean that Japan will no longer have the capacity to produce large panels.
An inexorable decline
In recent years, Sharp has faced a number of challenges, including falling LCD panel prices and increasing competition from Chinese companies such as BOE, Hisense and CSOT. These companies, thanks to lower production costs, triggered a price war that made it unsustainable for Sharp to continue producing displays in Japan. So much so that in the last fiscal year, the television panel factory generated 149 billion yen in losses, or just over 880 million euros.
Sharp said it would reduce production of small-sized screens at its other factories and was considering selling divisions dedicated to making semiconductors and smartphone camera components to a semiconductor company affiliated with Sony Group. The Sakai factory, however, will be transformed into a data center for Artificial Intelligence.
A pioneer who gives way
Despite the end of LCD display production, Sharp remains an iconic brand with a rich history of innovation. The company was the first to launch a 14-inch active matrix LCD television in the 1980s and helped popularize large-screen TVs. Sharp panels were still used among others by brands such as LG and Samsung, who will now have to find other partners.
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