According to Japanese Nikkei the two electronics manufacturers, Toshiba and Sony, are planning to merge their LCD and OLED production divisions to focus on production of LCD and in particularly OLED displays. The companies have not confirmed the rumor but Nikkei claims to have details.

Sony and Toshiba to join forces
The Japanese display industry is led by Sharp but the South Korean manufacturers, LG and Samsung, have gained momentum to become dominant forces in the display market. Both Samsung and LG support the OLED technology and have recently set up OLED production plants. Now the Japanese manufacturers are looking to expand into the new OLED category, too.

According to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei Sony and Toshiba are planning to merge their display research/development and production divisions to focus on LCD and in particular OLED display technology.


Sony & Toshiba hopes to create a display alliance

We have to underline that the companies do not plan to merge their flat panel TV division – the rumor only relates to research and production of display panels. With the merger the two companies hope to benefit from synergies that should help them to compete in the global market.

According to the same sources, focus is on small displays for handheld devices such as mobile phones, GPS units and tablets. The sources also claim that the two companies are going to focus mainly on research, development and production of OLED displays – believed to replace LCD in the future.

An interesting detail has also emerged from reports. The Japanese investment fund Innovation Network Corp. of Japan - which is supported by the Japanese government – is said to pump huge amounts of money into the new alliance and by doing that they will own 70-80 % of the new company. Sony and Toshiba will split the remaining share. At the same Toshiba Mobile Display and Sony Mobile Display will cease to exist.

The alliance has not been confirmed by the companies. But Nikkei says that the merger is expected to be established by the end of 2011.

Source: Nikkei, CrunchGear