Sharp announces mass production of blue LED chips

The manufacturer of core digital technologies, said growth in demand for LED backlights for LCD tvs and LED lighting fixtures has led to a rapid increase in the demand for blue LED chips. Sharp started blue LED chip production at its Mihara Plant in Mihara City, Japan, in January 2010. However, to meet growing market demand in the mid to long term, the company also started production at the Fukuyama Plant in a bid to expand materials procurement. According to Sharp, this will boost its production capacity of blue LED chips to approximately 5billion units a year in fiscal 2011. The blue LED chip production business at the Fukuyama Plant has been adopted as a project under the Fiscal 2009 subsidy scheme for promoting the location of low-carbon industry and creating employment run by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Sharp says it will strive to further enhance the development of eco-friendly products through its technologies and will continue to expand the market for LED business.