Outpaced by Korea and China... Sale of Sharp's Kameyama Plant No. 2 Falls Through, 1,170 to Take Voluntary Retirement

The sale of Sharp Corporation's Kameyama Plant No. 2 in Mie Prefecture, Japan, has fallen through. Plant operations will be halted, and 1,170 employees will take voluntary retirement.

Kyodo News reported on the 11th that Sharp had been negotiating the sale with its parent company, Taiwan's Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry), but the deal ultimately did not materialize. President Masahiro Okitsu explained at a press conference the previous day that "Foxconn determined that it would be difficult to secure profitability and made this decision."

Exterior view of Sharp Electronics' factory. Traffic Broadcasting System.

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Due to the collapse of the sale, Kameyama Plant No. 2 will recruit voluntary retirees from among 1,170 employees. From August this year, it will also suspend production of liquid crystal display panels. Sharp plans to resume efforts to sell the plant after production is halted.

Kameyama Plant No. 2, which has been in operation since 2006, used to manufacture liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for Sharp's large-screen AQUOS televisions. The panels produced there were once popularly known as the "Kameyama model of the world" and enjoyed strong demand. It was a symbolic production base that boosted Sharp's brand value. However, demand for TV panels declined, and competition with South Korean and Chinese companies intensified. In the end, Sharp restructured the business at Kameyama Plant No. 2 to focus on small and medium-sized liquid crystal panels for smartphones.

The Yonago Plant, which is responsible for cleaning panel manufacturing equipment, will also shut down in July this year. Sharp plans to recruit about 160 employees for voluntary retirement. A subsidiary that holds large-panel production technology is also in the process of being wound down. As a result, 240 employees are expected to be laid off, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

Sharp and other Japanese electronics manufacturers led the LCD panel sector until the mid-2000s. However, as they lost competitiveness to South Korea and China, they successively withdrew from the business. Sony sold all of its shares in its LCD manufacturing joint venture to Samsung Electronics in 2012, and Panasonic ended production of TV LCD panels in 2016. In 2024, Sharp's Sakai Plant in Osaka Prefecture, which had been the only factory in Japan producing TV LCD panels, also closed. As a result, production of TV LCD panels by Japanese manufacturers has come to a complete end.

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