Sharp said on Tuesday it will halt production at its large liquid crystal display (LCD) television panel factory in Sakai city, Osaka Prefecture, at the end of September.
The major electronics manufacturer, which continues to spill red ink, hopes to prevent a further deterioration in its profits by scaling back its sagging LCD activities.
Sharp included measures to address its LCD business in its medium-term business plan released on Tuesday.
The Sakai factory is the only remaining LCD TV panel production site in Japan.
Sakai Display Products, a Sharp subsidiary that operates the Sakai factory, will shift its activities to providing technical support to an Indian company and operating an artificial intelligence data center, according to the plan.
At a press conference, Sharp President and CEO Wu Po-hsuan said the company will make an announcement at an appropriate time about ongoing discussions with potential buyers of the Sakai factory.
Sharp plans to offer early retirement packages to affected employees, details of which are yet to be determined.
On Tuesday, Sharp said it had a consolidated net loss of ¥149.9 billion ($959 million) in the 2023 fiscal year ended in March, remaining in the red for the second straight year.
It posted a wider net loss of ¥260.8 billion in fiscal 2022.
The company’s group sales in fiscal 2023 fell 8.9% year-over-year to ¥2.32 trillion, while operating losses totaled ¥20.3 billion, compared to the previous year’s loss of ¥25.7 billion .
Sharp expects to secure a net profit of ¥5 billion in fiscal 2024.
At the press conference, Wu pledged to return Sharp to profitability in the current fiscal year, saying the company must establish a sustainable profit structure.
