This picture was taken around August 31, 2008 and is the construction site for Sharp‘s G10 TFT LCD fabrication plant, which will be the largest in the world. The Sakai site will be home to not only the G10 LCD fab but also a thin-film solar production plant. Sharp’s G10 fab will be able to process glass substrates with a dimension of 2850 x 3050mm, which is roughly 60% larger than Sharp’s current G8 fabs located in Kameyama.
Sharp is investing an estimated JPY 380 billion for the Sakai LCD factory. Through a joint venture with Sony, that huge sum will be split 34:66 with Sony’s burden at 34%. The new G10 fab is expected to commence operations in FY2009 (April 1, 2009 – March 31, 2010). It can take up to three quarters for mass production to take place after production equipment has been put in place. In some cases that time can be shrunk to just one quarter.
It also takes about one to two quarters to ramp up a fairly large TFT LCD fab and if Sharp wants to ride the rising tide for LCD TV demand that will materialize later in 2009, the company will need to hustle and make sure that it starts and ramps up quickly. Initial glass substrate input capacity will be at 36,000 per month and reach full capacity of 72,000 glass substrates per month in Phase II. My (very optimistic) guess is that Sharp will be able to ramp to about 12,000 glass substrate input capacity per month in about two quarters, 24,000 glass substrates in three quarters and reach full capacity production of 36,000 glass substrates per month by the end of FY2009 (March 31, 2010).
If you have any other pictures of Sharp’s Sakai construction site, please do share. :-)
Source: Daily Yomiuri Online, Sharp
[tags]Sharp, Sharp G10, Sharp Gen 10, Sharp 10G, G10 Fab, 10G Fab, Gen 10 Fab, LCD Fab, LCD Fabrication Plant, Sharp Sakai, Sharp Osaka[/tags]
