Sharp can't seem to make flat-screen TVs fast enough. The company's president recently unveiled plans to raise output of LCD sets by 50% in the fiscal year (April/06), to 6M units. By 2008, it is predicted that Sharp will be turning out around 20M 32" LCD TVs/year. Sharp lost LCD-TV market share in 2005 because of a panel production capacity shortage, said a Merrill Lynch analyst. However, since the announcement, Sharp's shares leapt 6.3% to the highest level since mid-2004. Matsushita Electric Industrial, the world's No 1 plasma TV maker, has said it will spend a gigantic US$1,600M on what will be the world's largest plasma TV factory when it opens in 2007, expanding production to 11M sets as it tries to defend its 26% market share in plasma TVs. The turf war should give consumers more options when shopping around. & for the manufacturers, it will mean stiffer competition and drastic price declines. Sharp is betting that it has a technological edge over the competition. It has been building a so-called eighth-generation (G8) plant in Kameyama City, right next to an existing facility, where engineers will turn out the specialised glass sheets from which LCD TV screens are made. It will mark the first production of glass sheets as large as 86"x 96". Sharp is betting LCD sets can oust plasma as king of the giant screens. Among flat-screen TVs 37" and larger (the biggest currently on the market is 65") plasma outsells LCD by four to one. Some industry observers predict LCD TV makers can close the gap with plasma makers by 2008 but Sharp's President Mr Katsuhiko Machida, believes it could happen sooner. However, others think that Sharp could face a tough challenge making LCD TVs at a lower cost than plasma TVs.
