“Qualcomm Inc will invest as much as $120 million in Sharp Corp, a cash injection likely to make it the struggling Japanese TV maker’s biggest shareholder, and to boost Sharp’s efforts to remain viable,” Reuters reports. “As part of the agreement Qualcomm, through its Pixtronix subsidiary, will work with Sharp – which supplies screens to Apple Inc for its latest iPhone – to develop new power-saving screens based on Sharp’s IGZO technology, Sharp said. The two firms will also consider collaborating in the fabrication of chipsets.”
“Sharp’s capital and business tie-up with the high-profile U.S. chipmaker may help reassure investors worried about the prospects of the debt-laden company that earlier this year averted failure with a $4.4 billion bank bailout,” Reuters reports. “‘With this agreement Sharp will accelerate its strategy for growth in small-to medium-sized LCDs,’ the Japanese company said. Sharp had been expected to make Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd its biggest shareholder, adding to an earlier agreement to sell the Taiwanese company a stake in its advanced television LCD panel plant in Sakai, western Japan. That agreement, however, unravelled as losses mounted at the maker of Aquos TVs.”
Reuters reports, “Talks with Hon Hai to renegotiate its investment have since stalled, but it may buy some of Sharp’s overseas TV assembly plants. The Sankei newspaper reported on Sunday that Hon Hai plans to purchase three factories in China, Malaysia and Mexico for $667 million.”
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