In recent weeks we have spoken on several occasions about the interest of several companies in taking over the Japanese screen manufacturer Sharp, which is going through financial difficulties in recent years. The one that attracted the most attention was Foxconn, as the main manufacturer of the devices of the Cupertino-based company.
According to the Nikkei Asian Review newspaper, the Japanese firm Sharp has ended up accepting the offer of Taiwan Hon Hai Precision, better known by Foxconn, in exchange for 6.200 billion dollars. The initial offer that the company made was 5.300 billion, which it seems that it has had to increase it to be able to stay with the Japanese screen manufacturer.
Rumors of Foxconn buying Sharp came to light last year and claimed that Foxconn would rely on Apple to make the investment, but would not be part of it. At the moment it is not clear if the offer that the Japanese firm Foxconn has accepted is financially backed by Apple.
As we can read in Nikkei Asian Review:
Sharp has had to choose between the acquisition offer by Foxconn or continue to operate with the support of Innovation Networ, Corp of Japan, an investment fund backed by the Japanese government. This fund offered a 300 million yen injection and a 200 million yen line of credit.
Following the Sharp purchase, Foxconn is in a position to begin manufacturing components for the iPhone, going beyond its only role so far which was none other than assembling the devices. Sharp's Kameyana No. 1 plant is dedicated exclusively to the manufacture of displays for the iPhone, after Apple's investment of 987 million to convert it, since previously it only manufactured HDTV panels. Currently the LCD panels of the iPhone are manufactured by Samsung, LG and Sharp.
If Apple's intention is to incorporate OLED panels within a couple of years, I can't quite see that Apple has been able to collaborate with the purchase of this company. If we do case of the rumors that we have published previously and related to the future OLED panels, both Samsung and LG will be responsible for the manufacture of this type of screens within two, when its implementation is planned and OLED technology has advanced even more than up to now.