Canon, Toshiba to start building SED TV production line in 2006

[BGonaSTICK]

Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corp. plan to begin constructing a mass production line for SED (surface conduction electron emitter display) flat-panel televisions as early as this year, Canon Chairman Fujio Mitarai said last Friday.

Previously, the two firms had planned to roll out the new product this past spring, but delayed its launch until late next year because of the unexpectedly rapid decline in prices of LCD and plasma TVs.

In line with their initial plans, the partners plan to invest a total of 180 billion yen to build the production line at Toshiba's Himeji factory in Hyogo Prefecture.

"We want to be able to mass-market the products in time for the shopping season for the Beijing Olympics in 2008," Mitarai said. But "we have not yet established the manufacturing technology for mass-producing SEDs at low cost," he said.

Under a five-year business plan starting this year, Canon aims to boost group sales to 5.5 trillion yen by fiscal 2010, up 47% from fiscal 2005. It is also targeting a net profit margin of more than 10%.

Mitarai regards the next five years as an expansion period, during which Canon will develop new businesses as well as actively pursue mergers and acquisitions in Europe and the U.S.

Currently, the first SED HDTVs sets are expected to appear in the U.S. market towards the end of 2007, hopefully in time for the Holiday selling season.