Philips Sells 24M Shares of LG Display

On March 12, Royal Philips Electronics NV announced that it had sold 6.7% or 24M shares of LG Display for net proceeds of around E680M.

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IPS Alpha to Become Matsushita Subsidiary

On February 15, 2008, Hitachi and Matsushita Electric Industrial announced an alliance reached on December 25, 2007 by Hitachi, Matsushita, and Canon. Under the terms of this agreement, Matsushita will acquire a 24.9% stake in Hitachi Displays, which is a wholly owned Hitachi subsidiary that makes small/medium LCD panels, from Hitachi by March 31, 2008. After that Matsushita will acquire all issued shares of IPS Alpha and all IPS-based large-area LCD panel businesses owned by Hitachi Displays for JPY66 billion. Hitachi will consider holding up to 10% of IPS Alpha. Hitachi Displays will retain majority ownership of IPS Alpha until the deal is completed. Under U.S. accounting standards, IPS Alpha will become a Matsushita consolidated subsidiary as of March 31, 2008. Matsushita is already the most formidable PDP TV player in the world and this move will enable the company to be a top TV company regardless of technology. Matsushita will play a key role in IPS Alpha’s new Gen. 8 plant in cooperation with the Hitachi Group.

This will also be a positive development for LG.Philips LCD, soon to be LG Display. In many cases, big brand companies such as Dell and HP try not to sole source LCD panels. Recently brands have mixed IPS and VA panels for the same models with conflicting success. Customers who end up getting a LCD monitor that happens to have a IPS panel will either like it for color fidelity and little-to-no color shifting at angles or dislike it for the slightly less contrast ratio from dead center relative to VA panels. With IPS Alpha, even though most of its capacity will be geared toward LCD TV panel production, a dual sourcing option is available for the brands, especially for LCD TV applications.

Source: JCN Network via Engadget

Sharp to Supply LCDs to Syntax-Brillian

Syntax-Brillian and Sharp signed an LCD panel supply agreement where Sharp will guarantees a minimum of 700,000 LCD panels in 2008 for 32″, 37″, 52″ and 65″ LCDs, with an option to purchase additional LCD panels. Also, Syntax-Brillian and Kolin have exclusive rights to purchase Sharp’s 65″ 120Hz LCD panels through September 2008.

So now Syntax-Brillian has two major suppliers: LG.Philips LCD (LPL) and Sharp. It will be interesting to see which LCD panels go into which LCD TV sets as the two companies manufacture brilliant LCDs but with some differences. LPL is known for its Super IPS (S-IPS) panels while Sharp is known for its Advanced Super View (ASV), a technology based on VA. For those who want dead-on superior contrast ratio, ASV is the way to go. For more color uniformity at angles, S-IPS is known to be better. We will see.

Source: Syntax-Brillian via DigiTimes

LG.Philips LCD 15.4″ Non-stick LCD

On November 15, 2007, LG.Philips LCD (LPL) announced a LCD panel that is resistant to virtually any kind of dirtying by incorporating a similar principle that is used on non-stick frying pans. The prototype is a 15.4″ LCD geared for notebook PC applications and is resistant to dirt, fingerprints and even permanent ink can be easily wiped off.

LPL stated that standard panels have anti-glare films that tend to hold onto oil and other substances. An additional layer on top of the anti-glare film can eliminate the problem, but requires an extra manufacturing step in addition to incurring more cost. LPL is hush-hush about more details of its non-stick 15.4″ LCD but volume production is slated for 1H’08. I am sure LPL will apply its non-stick magic on other LCD sizes very soon. Although pen marks are generally not a problem for notebook PCs, I can see that semi-ruggedized notebook PCs for outdoor use can benefit from this development. Oh, and notebook PCs for kids would definitely last longer with a non-stick LCD solution.

Source: LG.Philips LCD

Vizio 52″ LCD TV: US$2,200

According to DigiTimes, Vizio will be introducing a 52″ 1080p LCD TV in North America with a very aggressive price point of $2,200 in August. As with most of Vizio’s LCDs, this 52″ will have a IPS panel from LG.Philips LCD (LPL). The 52″ 1080p Vizio will be available at Costco.

Amtran Technology, a Taiwan-based integrator, builds many Vizio LCD TVs. Amtran is also the second largest shareholder (~24%) of Vizio. Foxconn also builds for Vizio, the company’s 26″ offering. Amtran leaked info that Vizio is planning to introduce a 40″ 1080p LCD TV by year’s end using S-LCD’s PVA panel. S-LCD is a joint venture between Sony and Samsung Electronics.

Is $2,200 for a 52″ 1080p really the best price you can get? Well, for a LCD TV with an IPS panel, yes. If you don’t mind a Sharp brand, have a look at the AQUOS LC-52D62U. This is also a 52″ 1080p LCD TV and goes for about $2,150 using PriceGrabber. If this is the case, I would like to see a much more aggressive price point of around $1,999 for Vizio’s 52″ 1080p offering. Of course, I prefer IPS over ASV (Advanced Super View, based on VA technology).