Hon Hai Reportedly to Invest in Hitachi DPG

Taipei, Jan. 3, 2011 (CENS)--Japanese economic newspaper Nikkei Inc. recently said that Taiwan's Hon Hai Group plans to take part in a capital increase project to be carried out by the Hitachi Display Products Group (DPG) of Japan to raise 100 billion Japanese yen, according to Taiwan's Chinese-language economic daily newspaper Economic Daily News (EDN).

The foreign reports also said that Hon Hai might let its subsidiary Chimei Innolux Corp., the largest thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel manufacturer in Taiwan, to integrate with Hitachi DPG to further strengthen Hon Hai's strength in touch technologies and panels.

Jeff Hsu, vice president of Chimei Innolux, refused to comment on the report, as did Hon Hai's senior executives. Another newspaper in Taiwan reported that Hajime Kito, spokesman of Hitachi, also denied such reports.

Hon Hai is currently the largest contract assembler of Apple's iPhones and iPads. Industry sources said that as the demand for IPS (In-Plane Switching) TFT-LCD and touch panels increases, future's supply of touch panels might face a shortage. Hon Hai's move is expected to help it complete vertical integration.

Chimei Innolux has set up relationships with Hitachi's DPG. In July 2010, the Taiwanese panel maker signed a IPS technological cooperation agreement with Hitachi DPG, and most people at that time deemed that's Chimei Innolux's business deployment in the tablet PC business. In addition, Hitachi is the panel supplier to Apple's iPhone 4, while Hon Hai is the contract assembler.