Sony to acquire IDTech

Sony and CMO have agreed that Sony will purchase all the shares of a new company spun-off from IDTech. Sony plans to produce low-temperature polysilicon thin film transistor liquid crystal (LTPS-TFT-LCD) display panels in the new company. The acquisition price has been set at approximately 18.5 Billion Japanese Yen for all the shares of the new company and includes purchase of all of the production equipment, facilities, and personnel at IDTech's plant in Yasu-shi, Shiga prefecture, Japan. IDTech is a world leader in the design, development, and production of amorphous silicon thin film transistor liquid crystal (a-Si TFT LCD) displays. Among IDTech's leading edge products are the world's highest resolution TFT LCDs for medical displays, wide-angle view in-plane switching (IPS) display monitors, twisted nematic LCD notebook displays, and specialized TFT substrates. The IDTech facility will complement Sony's present LTPS-TFT-LCD manufacturing base, which was established in 1997 as the STLCD Corporation, a joint venture between Sony and Toyota Industries Corporation, for the production of LTPS TFT LCD display panels for mobile products, such as cell phones and cameras. A second production line at STLCD was completed in 2002 in which production was expanded to 40,000 (600x720mm) base plates per month; Sony expects to continue the expansion of production and its acquisition of IDTech is part of those plans. Sony will make an investment for equipment and facility modification of approx. 27 Billion Yen level, leading to building a manufacturing facility with production capability of 25,000(550x650mm) base plates /month. This will lead to further enhance the business in the field of LTPS-TFT-LCD display panel for use in mobile products, such as mobile phones. The name of the new company is due to be decided by the end of Mar.2005, when the necessary procedures for the acquisition and new company formation is planned to be completed. The commercial base mass production for LTPS-TFT-LCD display panel is scheduled to start from Apr. 2006. CMO acquired IBM's Third Generation TFT LCD plant in 2001, and formed IDTech in a precedent-setting Taiwan-Japan joint venture. From this acquisition, CMO has successfully leveraged IDTech's leading technology, its skilled workforce, advanced management system, global logistics system and profitable customer base, which provided a strong starting base for CMO's LCD production in a very competitive industry. Since that time, CMO has been aggressively building its next generation fabs. in Taiwan, including a 5.5 Generation fab., which will begin mass production this year. Because of the fact that the new fabs. will operate with new state-of-the-art equipment and greater efficiency, to better manage its total production capacity, CMO ultimately agreed to sell IDTech's Yasu fab. to Sony.