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Sony to shutter Japanese TV plant as part of restructuring efforts

by Darren Murph posted Jan 21st 2009 at 10:44PM


Hey Sony -- we know that experiencing your first annual operating loss in 14 years calls for drastic measures, but this is bordering on downright rash. Barely a month after announcing that 16,000 employees would be axed, Sony has now revealed plans to close one of its two television plants in Japan and rid itself of 2,000 domestic full-time jobs as it attempts to "revive its electronics business." Of note, it's stated that those 2,000 -- which seem to be a part of the previously mentioned 16,000 figure -- will be shed via "early retirement and other programs." Just think what a 40-inch XEL-1 would do for business. No, seriously Sony, just think.

[Image courtesy of DigitalWorldTokyo]

Samsung to break ground on yet another LCD plant

by Darren Murph posted Jun 28th 2008 at 12:38AM


Hey, someone has to take care of Planet Earth's insatiable appetite for LCD, right? Samsung is once again looking to expand its LCD manufacturing operations in China, this time by investing around $500 million to erect a new facility for cranking out the seemingly successful 82-inch panel (among others). Reportedly, the plant will eventually be used to pump out 40-, 46-, 57-, 70- and 82-inch LCD panels in order to "satisfy the robust market requirement," but there's no word given on how soon product will start to ship from its doors.

AU Optronics pledges $9.3 billion to build two LCD factories

by Darren Murph posted Feb 20th 2008 at 7:57AM


Call us crazy, but we're sensing a trend here. Just months after Samsung announced its intentions to expand an 8G LCD plant and merely hours after Matsushita trumpeted plans to spend $2.8 billion on constructing a new LCD factory of its own in Japan, along comes word that AU Optronics is following suit. This firm, however, is busting out a whopping $9.3 billion in order to erect two facilities "to meet demand for large-sized LCD TVs." Reportedly, one of the buildings will be situated in Taichung, Taiwan, and while it has yet to decide whether it will build 8.5G factories or ones that are even more advanced, we've got all ideas it will have orders lined up from day one, regardless.

[Via Widescreen Review, image courtesy of FTIS]

Matsushita gears up to build $2.8 billion LCD factory in Japan

by Darren Murph posted Feb 19th 2008 at 9:31AM


Looks like we're already starting to see some repercussions from the (very) recent deal struck between Panasonic and Hitachi. Reportedly, Matsushita -- known for its Panasonic brand -- is getting set to construct a $2.8 billion LCD factory in western Japan that it hopes to open by 2010. The move is said to be in response to the weakening demand for plasmas and the increasing demand for LCDs, and when everything goes operational, the plant should be able to crank out 15 million 32-inch LCD panels per year. Notably, the facility will be built by IPS Alpha Technology, which Matsushita will be a majority owner in after "buying out Toshiba and Hitachi's stake in the venture." Better yet, it's noted that IPS Alpha could also dabble in OLED technology, so yeah, you can consider our interest piqued.

[Via About-Electronics]

Bongiovi Acoustics unveils miracle DSP chip for car audio

by Darren Murph posted Dec 17th 2006 at 1:16AM

If there were ever a time where we'd need to hear it before we believed it, this would be it. Tony Bongiovi, an audio engineer who's been around the block a time or two (read: he worked with Hendrix), has finally crafted the miracle chip he's been missing for decades. Dubbed the Digital Power Station (DPS, not to be confused with DSP), the microchip is described as a "very sophisticated equalizer," and while it was originally "the size of a refrigerator," he looked to Glenn Zelniker, a specialist in digital signal processing, to program a wee chip to do the same thing. The result is a dynamically programmed microchip based on an off-the-shelf DSP from Freescale Semiconductor, which is housed in special headunits (like JVC's KD-S100) and has more than "120 points of adjustment" to tune the tunes to fill each vehicle perfectly. Reportedly, the chip even turns factory speakers into high-fidelity drivers, as it calculates the dimensions of the vehicle and the abilities of the cones while outputting the audio. The JVC unit will cost "between $700 and $1,000 installed," since you'll have to schedule an appointment with your service department to get the correct software installed for your make and model, but we'd suggest a trial listen before you plunk down your one large.

[Via PhysOrg]




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