Beleaguered firms unveil LCD TV link-up
Loss-making Japanese electronics makers JVC and Funai Electric Co Ltd will jointly develop and supply LCD televisions, an industry source said, the latest in a series of alliances in the highly competitive flat TV sector.
Shares in Victor Co of Japan Ltd (JVC) soared as much as 11 percent and Funai jumped more than 9 percent after the Nikkei business daily first reported the development in its morning edition yesterday.
JVC will supply liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs made at a plant in Mexico to Funai, which will sell them under its own brand in North America, while JVC will market LCD TVs in Europe produced by a Funai plant in Poland, the source said.
The two plan to release a jointly developed LCD TV in 2009, the source added.
Funai spokesman Naoyuki Takanaka said his firm was in talks with JVC on a possible alliance but nothing had been decided.
JVC spokesman Toshiya Ogata said nothing had been set.
Funai Executive Vice-President Yoshio Nakajima said last month that it would likely offer its LCD TVs on an OEM basis to two to three companies in the business year starting in April, up from just one at that time.
In an OEM deal, a manufacturer makes products under a buyer's brand name.
Despite the favorable reaction in the stock market, however, analysts said the pact could have only a limited impact on the companies' flat TV businesses.
"For Funai, supplying LCD TVs to JVC under an OEM deal is just an extension of what it has already been doing, and that is a positive step," Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Kazuharu Miura said.
Agencies
(China Daily 01/30/2008 page17)
