12/04 02:47
Sanyo, Eastman Kodak Form Venture to Make New Display (Update1)
By Keiko Kambara
quote.bloomberg.com
Osaka, Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Sanyo Electric Co. and Eastman Kodak Co. said they will form a venture to make a new kind of display screen in a bid to gain leadership in a market analysts say may be worth as much as $3.1 billion in four years.
Sanyo, a Japanese consumer-electronics maker, will own 66 percent of the venture while Kodak will own the remaining 34 percent. SK Display Co., which will be initially capitalized at 450 million yen ($3.5 million), will begin producing the displays in February and expects sales of 70 billion yen in 2005.
The duo will make so-called organic electroluminescent panels, displays that consume less power because they don't require backlighting. The screens, which can be seen from a variety of angles, may replace the flat-panel liquid crystal displays now commonly used in popular handheld devices such as mobile phones and digital cameras, investors said.
``This is quite a positive move for Sanyo because Organic EL is likely to replace LCDs in the future,'' said Toshiyuki Fukushima, who manages $2 billion in assets at Sumisei Global Investment Trust Management Co., which holds Sanyo's shares.
The two companies, which have been developing Organic EL since February 1999, will increase the venture's capital to 6 billion yen by March 2003. They will spend a total of 50 billion yen for clean rooms and other facilities by March 2004, Sanyo spokesman Masatsugu Uemura said.
Of the 50 billion yen, Sanyo will invest 33 billion yen, while Eastman will spend 17 billion yen. |
