The asset sale is expected to take place on April 1, 2024, with revenue expected to be recorded from Sony based on newly-adjusted lease and outsourcing agreements from April 2023.
Japan Display Inc. (JDI) is selling its Higashiura LCD fab to Sony’s semiconductor company, officially on April 1, 2024, but Sony is going to use the Higashiura engineering center and continue JDI’s display technology design, prototyping, and analysis activity post-sale. The sale comes after JDI’s decision to end LCD panel production at the Higashiura Fab this month in a bid to reduce overheads and improve its own profitability.
The Higashiura fab, located in Chita-gun, Aichi prefecture, has a book value of approximately $49 million as of February 28, 2023, and will be sold at an undisclosed market price. Sony currently has lease and outsourcing agreements with JDI for part of the facilities, and the two companies have a capital relationship. Diversification in display manufacturing continues unabated, maybe even accelerated, as Sony looks to help develop more manufacturing capacity in Japan. The company already has a partnership with TSMC to build a fab in Japan for semiconductors. This is a continuation of that trend.
