Industry news

Taiwan's Investment Commission has approved an application filed by a local investment firm owned by Guo Shou-cheng, the eldest son of Foxconn chairman Terry Guo, to indirectly invest over JPY52.14 billion (US$448.04 million) in Japan-based Sakai Display Products (SDP).

The investment firm owned by the junior Guo will use the JPY52.14 billion fund to participate in a capital expansion project initiated by SIO International Holding, an overseas investment arm of the Foxconn Group, said the investment commission.

SIO International will then take up 436,000 SDP shares for JPY17.17 billion from Sharp. Additionally, SIO will also invest the remaining JPY34.97 billion into SDP.

Meanwhile, Sharp, in which Foxconn holds a 66% stake, has also announced that it has completed a deal with SIO international recently.

After the deal, Foxconn's stake in the Sakai plant through the presence of SIO has risen to 53.05% from 37.61%, while Sharp's stake in SDP has fallen to 26.71%, according to a statement issued by Sharp.

Market analysts said that the move by Foxconn to buy more SDP shares is aimed at taking a controlling stake in SDP's 10G production plant, which specializes in large TV panels, as well as OLED and flexible OLED panels.

Foxconn is enhancing its capability for the production of OLED displays as Apple may adopt the OLED panels for its next-generation iPhone devices, according to a Chinese-language udn.com report.