As part of measures to strengthen its plasma display (PDP) business, Hitachi Ltd. today reported it would ramp production at its Miyazaki Works plant, part of its joint venture Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Ltd. (FHP), by investing approximately $787 million (85 billion Japanese yen) in a third plant there.

The third plant is to be capable of producing 100,000 units per month by the second half of fiscal 2006, ending March 2007, with monthly capacity to increase to 200,000 units by the end of fiscal 2008, the year ended March 31, 2009, Hitachi said.

Together with the monthly output of 100,000 units at the Miyazaki Works’ second plant, Hitachi expects this to allow FHP to achieve total monthly capacity of 200,000 units in the second half of fiscal 2006, and 300,000 units by the end of March 2009.

In other PDP business boosting moves, Hitachi purchased part of Fujitsu’s equity in FHP to make FHP a consolidated subsidiary, and concurrently acquired PDP module patents.

Looking ahead, Hitachi and FHP plan to expand the PDP around the world under the Hitachi brand.

Furthermore, FHP said it would increase the supply of panels using the “Alternative Lighting of Surfaces” (ALIS) method to Japanese and overseas manufacturers. ALIS is a method that alternately displays odd and even lines at high speeds. This technology makes it possible to create high-resolution images using about the same number of electrodes as used with conventional VGA technology.

FHP first announced in March 2004 that it would construct a third plant at its Miyazaki Works. The plan at that time was to invest a total of $695 million (75 billion yen) and start construction early this year with the goal of starting volume production of 50,000 units per month in early 2006, building to 150,000 units per month in fiscal 2007.

However, due to a sharp drop in PDP prices, FHP revised its plans. Hitachi believes that demand for Hi-Vision panels with outstanding picture quality will increase as digital broadcasting comes of age, justifying the company’s decision to revise those plans.

By: DocMemory
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