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Tokyo - Emerging from a bruising period, Japan's LCD market has experienced strong flat-panel sales in 1996, particularly for the 12-inch diagonal displays needed for top-end notebook computers.
The downturn in 1994-1995 was particularly hard on Hoshiden, which recently agreed to merge its LCD operations with Philips Flat Panel Display (Eindhoven, Netherlands).
"The big plunge in LCD prices last year caused us to lose nearly $100 million last year, and that prompted us to speed up our search for a joint venture partner with its own in-house demand for LCDs," said Hirohisa Hioki, managing director of Hoshiden (Osaka).
Hoshiden is among the top half-dozen makers of active-matrix displays in Japan, but it is the only one that does not have a systems division to...