Taiwan-Japan Alliance Against Korea?
Reuters reported on December 7 that Sharp proposed the formation of an alliance of Japanese OLED companies against Samsung and LG.
That day, Sharp President Tai Jeng-wu met with reporters at the Tokyo Stock Exchange and said that Japanese companies need to join forces in the OLED panel industry. According to Reuters, the president also asked the Japanese government to help his company form the alliance.
At present, Sharp and Japan Display are planning to initiate the production of OLED panels in 2018 or 2019. Meanwhile, Samsung Display is already supplying OLED panels to Apple and LG Display is currently manufacturing OLED panels for use in TVs. OLED panels are characterized by being thinner, more flexible, and more vivid in color than LCD panels.
President Tai Jeng-wu said that he would talk over the matter with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and so on and have talks with the Japanese government with regard to JOLED’s investment attraction problems as well.
In the meantime, Sharp was taken over by Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) last year.