Posted on Tuesday, December 04 2012 @ 14:03 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Qualcomm announced it
will invest an estimated $181 million in Japanese display maker Sharp. The initial investment will be around $121 million, the companies will jointly develop Sharp's next-generation IGZO displays and once the project progresses Qualcomm will invest another $60 million to help the struggling display maker.
Sharp has been struggling, and in 2012 alone the company lost over 75% of its stock value on the Tokyo stock exchange. Sharp is expecting a second consecutive net loss as well, and with a capital ratio somewhere around 10% at the end of September 2012. Sharp is looking for ways to bring up its capital, and Qualcomm’s investment would give the popular mobile chip maker an approximate 5% stake in Sharp.
Sharp’s advancement with their LCD displays may help them become more profitable, and the company is doing fair as of late as it ranks second with about 16% of the global market share for smaller LCD panels used in smartphones and tablets.
