Sharp Corporation held an opening ceremony on October 15 for a second plant newly built inside the compound of Sharp Electrónica Mexico S.A. de C.V. (SEMEX), Sharp's production base in Mexico for LCD modules and LCD TVs destined for the North American market.

The opening ceremony was attended by government officials, representatives of partner companies, and Mr. Katsuhiko Machida, Chairman & CEO of Sharp Corporation.

The Mexico Plant, located in the Mexican state of Baja California, started operation in 1997 as a color CRT TV manufacturing plant, and began production of LCD TVs in 2003. To meet the burgeoning demand for LCD TVs in the North American market, Sharp constructed a new plant (Plant No.2) on the grounds of the present plant, and began the integrated production of LCD TVs — from manufacture of LCD modules to assembly of LCD TVs — first time in North America. The start of operations at Plant No.2 gives Sharp the ability to produce larger amounts of large screen LCD TVs and to supply LCD TVs to the market in a timely manner.

For the past several years, demand for LCD TVs has been growing in North America and is estimated to reach 23 million units in fiscal 2007, an increase of 50% over the previous fiscal year.

Moreover, with the spread of digital HDTV broadcasts, demand for large-screen full-HD models is expected to expand even further.

Initial production capacity at the new plant has been set at 200,000 units per month, but to meet the increasing demand for LCD TVs in the North American market, Sharp expects to gradually expand production capacity to 400,000 units per month by fiscal 2009.