December 2006

news archive

International Investigation Launched Into Allegations of Price Fixing by LCD Industry's Top Players

By Jessica Quandt, jess@sid.org

In a rash of investigations spanning three continents and as many as 10 different companies, antitrust officials from multiple countries have begun looking into allegations of "anticompetitive practices" by many of the world's biggest manufacturers of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs).

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), and the European Commission (EC) have all launched separate investigations to scrutinize the behavior of as many as 10 LCD manufacturing companies, including such as Samsung Electronics, LG.Philips LCD (LPL), NEC LCD Technologies, and Sanyo Epson Corp.

LPL confirmed in early December it had received visits from KTFC officials at its Seoul office, from the JFTC at its Tokyo office, and from the DOJ at its offices in San Jose, Calif., USA. Samsung said it had been contacted by the DOJ, and both LPL and Samsung have released statements pledging their "full cooperation" in the matter. So far, NEC and Sanyo Epson have confirmed only that they have been contacted by the JFTC. Various published reports also list Sharp Corp. and Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co. as subjects of investigations; however, neither company has confirmed being investigated to Information Display, and it is not clear which of the four agencies have called their practices into question.

Several reports published in December claimed the "anticompetitive" behavior cited by the antitrust agencies was in fact a price-fixing scheme meant to curb falling LCD prices. The EC verified in a Dec. 12 press release that it is out to determine whether there is evidence of a cartel agreement and related practices concerning price fixing in the LCD industry. However, when contacted on Dec. 12, DOJ spokesperson Gina Talamona would not comment on or confirm these allegations.

"The Antitrust Division is investigating the possibility of anticompetitive practices in the LCD industry. Since it's an ongoing investigation, I'm not commenting on a specific company or companies we may be investigating or a general number (of companies under investigation)," Talamona stated. "We are coordinating with a number of foreign competition authorities."

However, the DOJ, KFTC, JFTC, and EC likely are not actually working in concert on a common investigation, according to Eliot Disner, an attorney with Los Angeles law firm McGuire Woods who specializes in antitrust law and has written extensively on the subject. Disner, who is not involved with the investigations, explained that in today's global economy, it is increasingly common for antitrust agencies from multiple countries to conduct individual investigations. A company does not have to have offices or operations in a country for that country's agency to investigate them, meaning any business can be investigated for violating antitrust laws in any country where its product is sold. And each agency conducts its investigations according to its own rules and with its own set of potential penalties.

"With these investigations, there is no coordinating body, no great referee that tells the various agencies how to get in line about enforcement," Disner said. "They can each bring actions, and they can each get their pound of flesh."

What exactly the penalties would entail varies by country and agency. If any of the companies under investigation are found guilty of price fixing by any agency, a normal trial process would ensue in that agency's country, and each investigating country could impose a fine. Fines can range from as high as 10-35% of the company's net sales from the preceding financial year under EC rules, to smaller, "prophylactic effect" fines in other countries. These latter fines are meant merely to deter a company convicted of price fixing from repeating the offense, Disner said. In the U.S., however, it's not uncommon for foreign executives convicted of anticompetitive practices to be brought stateside to serve jail sentences.

"We have a cacophony of the international enforcement of the antitrust laws, which makes it really difficult to compete in the international sphere and do something that violates the law," Disner said. "Good citizenship is now kind of a world proposition."

Investigations may take as little as a few months, Disner explained, but he guessed they would likely be completed within about a year. After evidence is compiled, the judicial process can take several years.

According to the EC, "there is no strict deadline to complete cartel inquiries. Their duration is determined largely by the complexity of each case, the exercise of the rights of defense, and by the observance of the Commission's consultation and other procedures."

But for now, the big question is whether any of the companies under fire actually participated in the alleged price-fixing scheme or if prices were simply aligned over the last several years in the name of healthy competition.

"When it comes to price alignment, I always tell people that competition and conspiracy look the same," Disner explained.

Epson Buys Sanyo's Stake in Joint LCD Venture

By Jessica Quandt, jess@sid.org

TOKYO, Japan - Liquid-crystal display (LCD) manufacturer Sanyo Epson Imaging Devices Corp., a joint venture between Seiko Epson Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Epson after Sanyo signed over its 45% stake in the company to its partner on Dec. 13. The deal was finalized on Dec. 28, and the name of the company changed to Epson Imaging Devices Corp.

Sanyo Epson, which began operations in October 2004, develops, manufactures and sells supertwist nematic (STN) LCDs, micro-display (MD) thin-film transistor (TFT) LCDs, amorphous silicon (a-si) TFT LCDs, and low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) LCDs.

According to a press release from Epson, Sanyo Epson was created with the goal of becoming the leading supplier of small- and medium-sized LCDs by creating high-performance products and achieving high cost performance.

"Since its establishment, Sanyo Epson has been successful in expanding its business by fusing the technologies and technical knowledge of Epson and Sanyo Electric," a company release states. "However, intensified competition in the market for small- and medium-sized LCDs has resulted in severe and continued price erosion beyond forecasted levels. As a result, Sanyo Epson has been unable to expand to the desired scale."

Epson spokesperson Jasper Credland said the company could neither disclose the dollar amount of the sale nor comment on Sanyo's decision to get out of this particular market.

"Epson's purchase of Sanyo's stake is the first step in the process of returning the display business to profitability," Credland stated.

Representatives for Sanyo had not responded to requests for comment by press time.

Syntax-Brillian Extends Supply Agreement with LG.Philips LCD

TEMPE, Ariz. - Olevia LCD TV maker Syntax-Brillian has extended its supply agreement with LCD panel manufacturer LG.Philips LCD through 2007, and the two companies will cooperate on future research and development at a joint office in Nanjing, China, Syntax-Brillian said on Dec. 15.

Syntax-Brillian said in a press release it estimates that LG.Philips LCD will supply the company with approximately 700,000 panels in 2007 for the manufacture of the increasingly popular Olevia LCD TVs for global distribution, as well as LCD displays. Under the agreement, LG.Philips LCD will supply Syntax-Brillian with its full line of panels including 26-in., 32-in., 37-in., 42-in., 47-in., 52-in., 55-in., 57-in. and 65-in. panels, with the majority of panels likely to be utilized for the high-demand 37-in. and 42-in. form factor.
The extension is the result of continued strong demand for Olevia LCD TVs worldwide, Syntax-Brillian said, noting sales of Olevia LCD TVs more than tripled in 2006, gaining market share in North America, the Asia-Pacific region and South America. The agreement establishes a platform for continued global growth for Syntax-Brillian and the Olevia LCD TV brand by securing for the company a reliable supply of high-quality LCD TV panels at competitive pricing, the company said in its statement.

In addition to supplying Syntax-Brillian with panels, LG.Philips LCD will also host a joint research-and-development office and collaborate with a Syntax-Brillian engineering team on the development of cutting-edge digital entertainment products utilizing advanced LG.Philips LCD technology. The office will be located at LG.Philips LCD's Nanjing, China, LCD/LCM factory and will function as the beta-site for development and testing of next-generation products developed by the venture.

The companies expect this research-and-development facility to be fully operational in early 2007. It is strategically located minutes away from Syntax-Brillian's joint-venture LCD production facility in Nanjing (Nanjing Huahai Display Technology Co., Ltd.), ensuring both close collaboration between the two companies and ease of manufacturing of resulting new products.

LCD Manufacturers Under International Investigation for Allegations of Anticompetitive Practices

SEOUL, Korea - LG.Philips LCD (LPL) has issued a statement saying it is under investigation by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ), the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KTFC), and the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JTFC) for allegations of anticompetitive practices in the liquid-crystal display (LCD) industry. Online reports claim LCD manufacturers Sharp Corp., NEC Electronics, and Samsung Electronics are also under investigation, though as of yet only LPL has issued a statement.

"Last Friday, as part of an investigation of possible anticompetitive conduct in the LCD industry, officials from the KFTC visited the offices of LG.Philips LCD in Seoul, Korea," the company confirmed in a Dec. 11 press release. "In addition, the JFTC issued a notice to our offices in Tokyo, Japan and the DoJ issued a subpoena to our offices in San Jose, California. LG.Philips LCD takes this matter very seriously and will cooperate fully with regulatory authorities. While these investigations continue, LG.Philips LCD is committed to running its business as usual, supplying its global customer base with the highest quality products."

According to one widely circulated online report, the display giants are under investigation for allegedly agreeing to cut output in order to curtail decreases in panel prices.

ForthDD Joins Micro Device Display Consortium

DALGETY BAY, Scotland - Forth Dimension Displays (ForthDD^TM), the developer, manufacturer and supplier of microdisplays formerly known as CRLO Displays, has joined Japan's recently formed Micro Device Display Consortium (MDDPC).

The MDDPC was formed in September 2006, with founding member companies Arisawa Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Seiko Epson, Texas Instruments Inc. and Victor Company of Japan Ltd. (JVC).

The consortium's mission is to inform consumers, retailers, industry experts and the mass media about the benefits of microdisplay technologies used in high-definition rear-projection televisions (MD-PTV). These benefits include lower energy use and lower carbon emissions than with other HDTV technologies, ForthDD said in a company statement.

MD-RPTVs amounted to 34% of the total shipped units of large televisions (those greater than 40 in. diagonal) in 2005, according to ForthDD. In the past four quarters (between Q3 '05 and Q3 '06), according to market analyst company DisplaySearch, the total number of MD-PTV shipments rose by 16.1%. Industry experts and analysts expect that the new lasers and LEDs used as illumination sources in the next generation of MD-PTVs will further increase the growth of MD-PTVs, ForthDD said.

S-LCD Orders Orbotech AOI Systems for Gen-8 LCD TV Panel Production

YAVNE, Israel - Orbotech Ltd. this week announced the receipt of a major order from S-LCD Corp. for multiple InVision™-8080 and SuperVision™-880 automated optical inspection (AOI) systems to be utilized in S-LCD's Gen 8 LCD panel fabrication facility for televisions in Tangjeong, Korea. S-LCD is a joint venture between Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Orbotech provides yield-enhancing production support solutions for specialized applications in the supply chain of the electronics industry, principally for printed circuit boards (PCBs) and flat-panel displays (FPDs). Its AOI imaging and computer-aided manufacturing technologies enable customers to achieve the increased yields and throughput essential to remaining at the forefront of electronics production.

"As the industry moves to mainstream production of Gen-8 panels, we are very well positioned at the technological forefront to enable the successful mass production of even the most advanced product designs, including up-to-the-minute large-size LCD TVs," Nobuhiro Higashiiriki, president of Orbotech's Display Asia Pacific Division, said in a company statement.

Philips Allegedly Planning to Sell Stake in Joint LCD Venture

CHICAGO, Ill. - According to several online reports, industry giant Philips Electronics is planning to sell its stake in LG.Philips LCD, the liquid-crystal display manufacturing company it formed jointly with LG Electronics in 1999.

A Philips spokesperson said in early December he was not aware of any plans to sell the company's shares and declined to comment further. But according to Korean online journal http://donga.com, Philips Chairman and CEO Gerard Kleisterlee confirmed suspicions of a sale by saying, "We will sell all of our shares of the LG.Philips liquid-crystal display (LCD) venture between LG Electronics and Philips." On Nov. 26, the publication quotes Kleisterlee as adding, "As the price of LCD panels is too volatile, its profits are unreliable. We plan to sell the stock according to market principles. We will choose the best way to maximize shareholder profits."

Electronics manufacturing journal EMSNow said in a recent report Kleisterlee's allusions to a sale were made at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, Ill., on Nov. 26.

In 2005, Philips sold 18 million of its shares in the joint venture, bringing its total stake in LG.Philips LCD down to about 33%.

Liquavista Secures €12 Million in Financing

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands - Liquavista BV, developers and manufacturers of electrowetting displays (EWD), announced in early December it had secured €12 Million in funding from European technology investor Amadeus Capital Partners and private-equity and venture firm GIMV. New Venture Partners, which led the spin out of Liquavista from Philips Research in April this year, is also participating.

"Liquavista made a significant impact on the display industry when we launched this year (at the SID 2006 Exhibition)," Liquavista CEO Mark Gostick said in a company statement. "With the addition of two more Tier 1 investors to our shareholder base, we have the funding to increase our speed to market by getting our production partners up and running and allowing us to make our first customer deliveries."

"The next big thing in display technology has to address poor visibility and power consumption," commented Amadeus Director Hermann Hauser, who will join the Liquavista board. "Liquavista's EWD technology solves these problems while maintaining video rate performance and could become a major force in this market."

Samsung Develops Integrated Display Driver with Readout Function for Thinner, Lighter Touch-Sensor-Embedded Display Panels

SEOUL, Korea - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced on Dec. 4 it had developed the world's first mobile display driver IC (DDI) combining the display driver and readout functions for touch-sensor-embedded display panels, a step which the company believes will pave the way for lighter and thinner mobile applications.

Samsung's new DDI device enables an active-matrix liquid-crystal display (AMLCD) to be touch-sensitive, eliminating the need for the extra layer containing touch sensors that is standard in most current touch-screen panels. This is done through the introduction of a touch-sensitive sensor into the pixel. This approach enables designers to dispense with the separate touch panel, raising light transmissivity, improving brightness and providing sharper on-screen images.

"Designers can get an ultra-thin touch screen by combining our new DDI with an LCD that has embedded touch sensors. This method will accelerate the process of developing lighter and slimmer mobile products that feature a touch screen," Dr. Myunghee Lee, vice president of the Advanced DDI Design Team at System LSI Division of Samsung Electronics Co., said in a press release.

Samsung's new DDI with readout function also senses either charge or current signals from the thin-film-transistor (TFT) sensor array and converts them into data appropriate for image processing for detection of the touched location, the company said. By eliminating the need for a readout chip, Samsung claims the sensor embedded touch-screen system can be more compact and cost effective.

LG Launches 102-Inch Plasma TV in Middle East

Dubai - LG Electronics is introducing a 102-in. plasma TV into the Middle East market, according to a mid-November report from the Trade Arabia business news service.

LG told the Arabian media outlet it expects the new product to significantly boost LG's share in the worldwide PDP business.

"With the launch of the 102-in. plasma TV, LG Electronics has the largest line-up of high-definition plasma TVs," LG Electronics, Gulf FZE President C.H. Lee told the publication.

The TV employs super-speed driving technology and innovative materials and has double the resolution of ordinary plasmas, with a contrast ratio of more than 5000:1, the news service said.

NEC Electronics America Introduces New 21.3-in. Monochrome LCD Modules for Medical Applications

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - NEC Electronics America Inc., this week unveiled two new 21.3-in. (54-cm), amorphous-silicon thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD) modules for medical applications.

The first product, a 6-million-pixel monochrome LCD module, has a resolution of 2800 x 2100 pixels, among the highest resolutions available in a monochrome LCD module for medical use, making it especially well suited for use in applications involving the interpretation of high-resolution radiographic images such as digital mammography images, NEC said in a Nov. 28 press release. The second product, a 2-million-pixel monochrome LCD module, has ultra-extended graphics array (UXGA) resolution and boasts a luminance level of 1,700 candelas per square meter (cd/m2), one of the highest luminance levels of any monochrome UXGA or higher-resolution LCD module currently available. The module is suitable for use in applications involving the interpretation of X-ray images.

"The new 6-million-pixel LCD module fills an important gap in the medical display market. Not only does it offer a very high resolution, and therefore one of the best display environments in which to analyze digital mammography images, this product also offers great benefits to monitor manufacturers in terms of reduced development costs and shortened product development cycles," Dr. Shigehiko Satoh, associate vice president and general manager, displays strategic business unit, NEC Electronics America, said in a press release. "Our second module is among the top in its class in terms of luminance and contrast, and also meets the demand for UXGA-resolution LCDs that can maintain uniform high brightness over long periods of time."

The new 6-million-pixel-module can display approximately 12% more screen information than NEC's 5-million-pixel monochrome display modules, the company said. Furthermore, the new module's 10-bit TFT-LCD source driver enables individual subpixel control of 1024 grayscales for superior grayscale quality. In other words, the module can display 3070 grayscales (11.5 bits) per pixel simultaneously-without the need for interpolation technologies such as frame rate control (FRC).

The module has a wide viewing angle and offers a 4:3 aspect ratio, high luminance of 1000 cd/m2, and high contrast of 1000:1-one of the highest contrast ratios available in the 5-million-pixel-and-above monochrome LCD class. In addition, superior control of viewing angle dependence on grayscale and contrast performance produces uniform image quality even in multi-screen environments.

With an aspect ratio of 4:3 and its 21.3-in. (54 cm) diagonal size, the module is compatible with NEC LCD Technologies' existing 2- and 3-mega-pixel monochrome modules. This enables sharing of monitor enclosures with LCD monitors that adopt NEC LCD Technologies' two- and/or three-mega-pixel LCDs, contributing to shortened product development periods and a reduction in development cost for LCD monitor manufacturers.
The new 2-million-pixel monochrome LCD module uses a combination of NEC LCD Technologies' own unique super-advanced, super-fine TFT (SA-SFT) technology and a high-intensity direct backlight system to achieve a luminance level of 1700 cd/m2, one of the highest luminance levels available in monochrome LCD modules with UXGA and higher resolutions.

The module offers a high contrast ratio of 850:1, also one of the highest in monochrome LCD modules with UXGA and higher resolutions, NEC said. An optimized optical design inhibits the "washed-out black" phenomenon that occurs when a viewing angle is enlarged, a common issue with in-plane switching (IPS)-type LCD modules, and leads to enhanced contrast ratio over wider viewing angles. In addition, the new module realizes uniform high brightness over the entire screen, a feature that has long been sought for the analysis of medical images, the company stated.

Samples of the 21.3-inch, 2-million-pixel module are available now. Samples of the 21.3-inch, 6-million-pixel module are expected to be available in January 2007.

SANYO Becomes Authorized Manufacturer of PureDepth™

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. - PureDepth™ Inc., a manufacturer of multi-layer display technology, announced at the end of November that it had authorized SANYO Electric System Solutions Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. to become a manufacturer of PureDepth technology for an array of products and form factors ranging from mobile devices to big-screen televisions.

"Extending our relationship with PureDepth into other industries and applications gives us a significant advantage as we strive to create revolutionary products in areas such as mobile phones, automotive systems, entertainment and other consumer-electronics devices," said Tsutomu Fujita, Director of SANYO Electric System Solutions Co. Ltd., in a statement. "We believe the PureDepth technology combined with Sanyo's manufacturing and implementation will make a very strong impact in many markets."

"This agreement with Sanyo immediately provides us with worldwide manufacturing capabilities of the highest quality and quantity," said Fred Angelopoulos, CEO of PureDepth. "It's also a ringing endorsement of the extreme breadth of the applications for which our technology is ideally suited."

Sanyo has an exclusive license to incorporate the PureDepth technology into its amusement gaming platforms in Japan, where Sanyo is a key player in that country's $12 billion pachinko hardware market (described as a cross between pinball and slot machines). This authorization allows Sanyo to apply additional form factors and key elements of the PureDepth technology in other digital displays for markets worldwide.
PureDepth technology is a liquid-crystal display (LCD) layered, multi-dimensional (using real depth between two or more LCD panels) viewing innovation that enables users to simultaneously view two separate fields of data on one monitor. By overlaying two more separate image planes within a single monitor, PureDepth technology provides true depth of vision that significantly enhances the visual experience with faster response to time-critical data and better assimilation and comprehension of data of any kind, the company said.

PureDepth also announced that it has been awarded New Zealand Patent No. 541023, titled "Backlighting System for Screen Display," for a total of 45 patents to date.

Toshiba Expands SoC Solutions for Mid-Range and Low-End Digital TVs

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. has expanded its family of highly integrated, single-chip system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for mid-range and low-end digital TV applications with the introduction of a second-generation product, the company announced in mid-November.

The new applications - available in two versions and designed specifically for North American TV standards including the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standard and digital cable - integrate more on-chip functional blocks than before to reduce system cost and support new algorithms that improve picture quality, the company said in a statement. The devices incorporate vestigial side band (VSB) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) for demodulation of ATSC and cable streams.

The company also added two new add-on modules to streamline design-to-production time for its ODM and OEM customers: DLVM-GC for digital CRT-TV applications and DLVM-GL for LCD-TV designs to be converted to ATSC-compliant designs.

"The introduction of the TC90407XBG/FG chips and DLVM-GC/DLVM-GL modules marks another major milestone in our strategy to offer complete platform solutions for the digital TV segment," said TAEC ASSP Business Unit Vice President Shardul Kazi in a company statement. "Engineered here at TAEC and optimized for the North American market, our (FG) single-chip ICs are highly integrated, cost-effective SoC solutions for both LCD and digital CRT TVs, set-top boxes and digital-to-analog TV converter boxes. Concurrently, we are introducing two application-specific modules based on the (XBG) to help our customers reduce product development time considerably and get a jump on competition."

Kazi noted that a driving force in the market is the Congressional mandate that U.S. broadcast television service completely convert to digital terrestrial transmission by 2009.

The single-chip solutions are highly-integrated SoCs for mid- to low-end digital TV applications that incorporate a high-performance 64-bit MIPS-based™ RISC host processor and two highly optimized DSP processors for compute-intensive multimedia tasks. The devices are capable of decoding a single standard-definition or high-definition stream and display content in a standard-definition resolution (720 x 480 pixels) or half-high-definition resolution (960 x 1080 pixels), the company said.

i-sft GmbH Expands U.S. coverage

GUNDERSHEIM, Germany - i-sft GmbH, a German manufacturer of thin-film-transistor (TFT) displays for industrial applications, announced in late November it had teamed up with manufacturer's representatives Tritek Solutions and The Tronex Group to better serve its North American customer base.

According to an i-sft press release, Tritek Solutions, through its divisions Tritek Northwest and Aztec Enterprises, has offices throughout the western United States. The Tronex Group, which serves the southern United States, focuses on display products and man-machine-interface components.

"With their solution-focused sales approach both companies perfectly match our project type business," Dr. Joerg Blechschmidt, Strategical Sales Director of i-sft, said in a press release. "A technical understanding that goes well beyond the product itself provides additional value to our cutting-edge displays."

The new partners will supplement NuAccess Technologies, which now represents i-sft in Southern California.