Sony
Tokyo-based Sony, which makes Bravia televisions, will “boost competitiveness” through the LCD venture, Ryoji Chubachi, Sonys vice chairman said in an interview in Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture, today.
Sonys initial investment in the venture may be as much as 60 billion yen ($633 million), the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier, without saying where it obtained the information. Sony and Sharp announced a plan to jointly produce LCDs in 2008.
Sony was not the source of the Nikkei report, Shinji Obana, the companys Tokyo-based spokesman said by phone today.
Sony shares rose 1.7 percent to 2,370 yen as of 9:10 a.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, extending its gain this year to 23 percent.