The Foxcon Technology (Hon Hai) Group, which has agreed to acquire a stake in financially ailing Sharp Corp. of Japan, is planning to invest 200 billion Japanese yen (US$1.8 billion) in OLED technology over the next three years.
The OLED technology investment plan was revealed in a document obtained from Sharp related to Hon Hai's acquisition of a 66% stake in the money-losing Japanese company.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the investment may go toward OLED production lines being set up by Hon Hai and Sharp in a flat panel plant, Sakai Display Products (SDP), that is jointly owned by Sharp and Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou.
The Sharp document showed Hon Hai is also expected to spend an additional 60 billion yen to develop new generation medium-sized liquid crystal displays, 40 billion yen on the Internet of Things, and 40 billion yen to develop multi-functional office equipment.
These funds will be in addition to the 388.8 billion yen Hon Hai is spending to acquire its stake in Sharp.
It has been reported that if the acquisition does not conclude by Oct. 5, and the failure to complete is caused by Sharp or some reason not caused by Hon Hai, the Taiwanese investor will be able to terminate the deal.
If the deal were terminated, Sharp would give Hon Hai negotiating rights for three months to buy its flat panel operations.
Hon Hai has promised to allow Sharp to operate as an independent entity after the acquisition, protect the rights of Sharp's workers and preventing Sharp's technology from flowing away.
Analysts have said Hon Hai's main interest in Sharp is the Japanese company's advanced flat panel technology, which could help it secure more orders from Apple Inc. Hon Hai is an assembler of iPhones and iPads.