Despite of the fact that the company has posted a wider-than-expected loss for the fiscal year 2008, which ran from April 2008 through March 2009, Sharp announced that its new LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) plant located in Sakai, western Japan will begin operations in October 2009, six months earlier than originally scheduled, Dow Jones reported on April 7.

 

With a total investment of 380 billion Yen (US$3.78 billion; US$1 = 100.15 Yen), the new facility - currently under construction - is capable of manufacturing 10G glass substrates for large-area LCD panels, with an initial expected capacity of 36,000 units per month, according to the same source. Meanwhile, the company also stated that it will reduce total costs by 200 billion Yen (US$2.00 billion) in the fiscal year 2009, which runs from April 2009 through March 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported.