TOKYO—Matsushita Electric Industrial and Toshiba, two leading Japanese consumer electronics and electrical appliances companies, announced that both firms will on 1 April set up a joint venture to develop and manufacture liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting displays (OLEDs).
Yasusuke Sumitomo, vice president of Toshiba, will assume the presidential post of the new joint venture called Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology. Toshiba will hold 60 percent of the new company to be capitalized at 10 billion yen (US$74.8 million), while Matsushita will hold the remaining 40 percent.
The new venture is targeting to have 340 billion yen (US$2.5 billion) in sales in the fiscal year ending 31 March, 2003. Both firms agreed to consolidate their LCD and OLED businesses in October 2001.
