Amid weak panel prices, Foxconn drops plan to acquire Sharp’s LCD factory in Japan

On Feb. 12, reports citing Nikkei Asia said Sharp announced on Tuesday (local time) that the planned sale of its second LCD panel plant in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture to its parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) has collapsed. Foxconn, a major iPhone assembler, reportedly withdrew the plan, citing weak LCD panel prices.

Sharp said it will halt production in August and offer a voluntary redundancy program to 1,170 employees at the site. As a result, Sharp expects to book JPY 10 billion in restructuring costs as a special loss for the fiscal year ending March, with an additional JPY 2 billion planned for the following fiscal year.

Kameyama Plant No. 2 mainly produces small and mid-sized panels for smartphones and tablets. Foxconn had originally planned to keep panel production running after the acquisition and add new lines for AI server manufacturing. It is now reportedly considering using another idle facility within the Kameyama site to produce AI servers. Sharp’s President and CEO Masahiro Okitsu said the partnership with Foxconn has not deteriorated.

Sharp also said it has scrapped a separate plan to transfer large-panel LCD technology to an Indian company—an initiative intended to redeploy workers from the Sakai plant, which stopped production in August 2024. Following the cancellation, Sharp will offer voluntary redundancy to another 240 employees and record an additional JPY 2.2 billion special loss in the fiscal year ending March.