It is reported that Sharp is selling its second factory in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, located in central Honshu, to its parent company, Taiwan's Foxconn.
The Kameyama factory was where Sharp produced large TVs. As TV demand has decreased, it is now manufacturing small and medium-sized panels used in smartphones, tablet PCs, and computer monitors.
On the 12th, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) and Kyodo News reported that Sharp plans to sell the second factory at the Kameyama plant, which consists of two production units and has a lower operating rate. This is aimed at reducing its liquid crystal panel business and improving its performance.
Earlier, Sharp announced that it had stopped the production of large liquid crystal panels for TVs at its Sakai factory in Osaka Prefecture in August of last year, selling part of the Sakai factory to SoftBank. However, from October to December of last year, the company continued to face poor performance, recording an operating loss of 4.8 billion yen (about 461 million won) in its liquid crystal panel business.