Sharp and Foxconn have reportedly signed an agreement to establish a joint venture by the end of 2011, mainly for joint procurement of components for LCD TV panels to minimize costs and compete with Samsung and LG rivals.

Nikkei today reported that the joint procurement would include glass substrates and color filters (CF). Chimei Innolux (CMI), an affiliate of Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industries), will provide Sharp with TV panels of 20-40 inches, while Sharp will supply 60-inch and larger panels to CMI in order to help the company minimize production costs, the Japanese paper added.

Sharp has been heavily invested in new LCD manufacturing plants, mainly for production of large LCD panels. The joint venture with Chimei Innolux would allow the company to increase its capacity of small and medium-size panels used in smartphones.

Chimei Innolux and Sharp nave not officialy commented on the report.

It was recently announced that Hitachi had pulled out of talks about a joint venture with Foxconn to enter into a proposed Japanese-government backed LCD venture with Toshiba and Sony.