“Japan Display Inc said on Friday that it would build a new $1.4 billion liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturing plant, which a source said would supply smartphone screens for Apple Inc.,” Ritsuko Ando and Reiji Murai report for Reuters.
“The company did not name Apple, in line with its policy of not identifying clients,” Ando and Murai report. “A person familiar with the matter said Apple would also invest an unspecified amount in the plant, which would further the Japanese screen maker’s aim of becoming the primary supplier of high-tech screens for iPhones.”
Ando and Murai report, “Japan Display said it aims to start operations at the plant in 2016 and expects the move to increase its LCD capacity by 20 percent.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anything with the potential to hurt Samsung sounds great!
Great. Now show what a reputably run company can do in partnership with Apple :/
ramping up for apple TV
It is for small mobile devices, not for big panels.
As to Samsung, it does not change a thing already since Apple almost does not use them as mobile screen manufacturer for few years already. Old screens like iPad mini non-Retina could still use manufacturing by Samsung’s, but nothing much else.
Everything else is by LD Display, Sharp Display and one of Chinese companies (Chimei or Auo, it changes from time to time).
I would like to see some efforts to kickstart next generation manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Highly automated facilities will not require as much labor, thus greatly reducing the labor cost advantages currently enjoyed by China and other countries.
Of course, the downside is that these facilities will not create as many jobs, especially blue collar jobs. As automation takes over industries, the working class will find it increasingly difficult to make a living and the concept of upward mobility will be just a dream for many people.
Very true and no one has come up with an answer to that outside of a utopian dream. I would say though that so far highly automated manufacturing has done little to nothing to stop manufacturing jobs moving east and perhaps it will take an Apple to invest in changing that situation if indeed it is even possible for the most part.
It’s mostly about cheap labor as well as reliability of the workers. We can also thank the likes of Walmart who drove manufactures out of the USA, refusing to sell their wares unless they lowered their costs. Thus…
This past year I saw glimmers of hope. Apple helped. I would like them to help some more.
I could not be happier that Japan is getting a bigger hunk of Apple manufacturing money. Would that Apple would pull out of China manufacturing and move it all to Japan!
📢 Ya hear that Apple?! 📣
… AND back to the great USA! That’s slowly happening.