Sharp started operations at its new LCD panel plant in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, the company announced today.

Construction began in November 2007 on Sharp's manufacturing complex- Sharp Green Front Sakai - which includes this LCD panel plant and as well as another plant for thin-film solar cells.

The LCD panel plant is the first facility in the world to adopt 10th-generation glass substrates. Using Sharp's proprietary UV2A photo-alignment technology, the plant is capable of producing high-contrast, energy-efficient panels of 40 inches and larger.

The new LCD Panel Plant will be able to produce 72,000 glass substrates per month (36,000 substrates per month at start of operations) sized at 2,880 x 3,130 mm (10th-generation glass substrate).



Sharp Green Front Sakai will bring the world two environmentally friendly products: energy-saving LCD panels and energy-creating solar panels. Sharp aims to make this complex an environmentally advanced production base through such environmental measures as adopting LEDs for all indoor and outdoor lighting (approximately 100,000 LED lights) throughout the complex. In addition, Sharp will install solar panels on all factory roofs to provide some of the needed electricity.