14 DAY TRIAL // Sharp announced that it will soon begin work to construct a new industrial complex in Sakai City, Japan, that will be dedicated to the construction of LCD panels and thin-film solar cells. Sharp hopes that its idea of an industrial complex in Sakai will be a success as it has already invited a number of companies to set up manufacturing facilities within this manufacturing complex. Among the invited companies there are a number of leading material producers like glass substrate and color filter makers alongside production equipment specialized manufacturers.
According to the news site DigiTimes the main goal of this industrial complex "is to achieve vertical integration that transcends the barriers between companies by pushing the vertically integrated business model created at the Kameyama plant - from LCD panels to LCD TVs - further upstream in the supply chain". Sharp is interested in both TFT LCD displays and thin-film solar cells as both products share the same basic materials and technology and the further integration of LCD production technologies in the making of solar cells could lead to greater improvements in performance, noted Sharp.
Sharp's LCD panel production facility will be the first in the world to use "tenth-generation (10G) glass substrates (2,850?3,050mm)", that are 60 percent larger than the 8G substrates used around the world. From a last generation glass substrate panel Sharp will be able to create six 60 inch LCD panels, eight 50 inch panels or 15 panels from the 40 inch class, thus making it possible to manufacture large screen TV displays based on LCD panels in a more efficient manner. Along side the LCD production plant, the solar cell facility will focus on the mass production of thin-film solar cells with a production plan of around 1000MW per year. This level of production is expected to make this production plant the largest in the world. Construction operations are scheduled to begin in November this year for both the LCD panels and the thin-film solar cells plants.