Tech News - Canon to Start Making Rear Projection TVs in 2005

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Canon to Start Making Rear Projection TVs in 2005

01/04/2005

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese camera and office equipment maker Canon Inc. said on Tuesday it would start producing rear projection televisions later this year, aiming to secure a chunk of the rapidly growing market for big screen TVs.

Canon also said it plans to invest in a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel joint venture by Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.

It added, however, that details of the planned investment, including the size of the stake, have yet to be decided and it had no plan to make LCD televisions.

"We are aiming to offer rear projection TVs on a commercial basis by the end of the year. Since they are to be used at schools and other public facilities, we don't expect them to sell as well as consumer goods," a Canon spokesman said.

The rear projection TVs would be the second flat-panel TVs for Canon, which also plans to launch surface conduction electron emitter display (SED) TVs this year.

Canon would target the TV market for 60-inch panels or larger with rear projection TVs, and demand for smaller TVs would be covered by SED TVs, the Canon spokesman said.

Toshiba and Canon plan to invest a combined 200 billion yen ($1.95 billion) in a joint venture to manufacture SED panels, which are seen as promising next-generation displays.

SED panels are thinner than existing flat panels, consume less energy and, unlike LCD panels, do not require backlighting because they produce their own light.

Projection models are growing in popularity in the 50-inch and above segment because they are half the price of similarly sized plasma TVs.

The spokesman said Canon did not yet have a sales target for its rear projection TVs and that production would start in the second half of 2005. He also said Canon planned to take a stake in the three-way LCD joint venture by Hitachi, Toshiba and Matsushita, and that details would be decided by March.

The three electronics makers said in August they would spend a combined 110 billion yen to jointly produce LCD panels for flat-screen TVs.

"We will be investing as an LCD gear maker, and this does not mean we will be entering the LCD TV market," the Canon spokesman said.

Any investment by Canon, a major maker of LCD manufacturing equipment, would be relatively small since the triumvirate is set to take a total of more than 90 percent in the new venture.

Shares in Canon closed Tuesday's shortened trade up 0.54 percent at 5,560 yen, outperforming the Nikkei average, which gained 0.25 percent.

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