Foxconn, who recently revealed its plans to invest $210 million in a new Apple production facility in Huai’an city, China, is reportedly teaming up with Japan’s Sharp Corporation in developing the iPhone 5’s display, Reuters reports. The source claims that the Japanese firm will supply necessary technological to Hon Hai for a new Foxconn plant that will produce panels for iPhone 5 and other consumer electronics products. Foxconn has already agreed to buy a 46.48% share in Sharp’s liquid crystal manufacturing plant in Japan, the nation’s most advanced panel factory.
According to the source:
The Nikkei said that the new technology handover, for which Sharp will receive tens of billions of yen in fees, is aimed at improving quality management at Hon Hai’s planned plant in Chengdu.
A Sharp spokeswoman said the company was “considering a number of options,” but declined to comment on the report.
Sharp also said that suppliers Dai Nippon Printing and Toppan Printing had agreed to merge their units that make films for Sharp’s LCD panels into the Sakai unit in return for a stake in the plant.
The result of these deals will leave Sharp with a 37.6 percent stake in the LCD factory, allowing it to remove the money-losing company from its list of group companies and reclassify it as an affiliate.
This alliance can prove to be a big opportunity for Taiwan to tap the manufacturing expertise of Japan’s leading panel maker.
