Sony who sell their Bravia LCD TV’s at a premium simply because they are branded Sony are moving to low cost component manufacturers in China and Taiwan in an effort to supply Australians who are hungry for HD TV’s. The move comes as Sony try to return profitability to their operations by outsourcing manufacturing.
Sony who sell their Bravia LCD TV’s at a premium simply because they are branded Sony are moving to low cost component manufacturers in China and Taiwan in an effort to supply Australians who are hungry for HD TV’s. The move comes as Sony try to return profitability to their operations by outsourcing manufacturing.
In fact one of Sony’s most popular LCD TV’s the 46″ Bravia HD LCD TV is made by AO Optics in Taiwan. Part owned by BenQ this is the same Company that manufacturer the same sized LCD TV’s for Dell, Acer and BenQ.
These models sell at up to half the price of a Sony branded Bravia LCD TV.
In the past Sony was supplied by S-LCD, a joint venture between Sony and Samsung Electronics, from its seventh-generation (7G) plant. However due to the fact that this plant is 51% owned by Samsung a Company who are in a head on battle with Sony in the LCD TV market capacity has got tight with the plant now being used to generate 8th generation LCD TV’s in sizes over 50″.
Sony Bravia LCD TV’s sold in Australia are also manufactured by Taiwan’s Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) who also make low cost TV’s for Dick Smith, Wal Mart & Target.
This week Sony announced further consolidation with the merging of two ventures that make small- and mid-sized liquid crystal display panels. The panels are used in mobile products such as camcorders.
Sony will merge ST LCD and ST Mobile Display, its two joint ventures with Toyota Industries Co Ltd. In the new entity Sony will hold a 86 percent stake in the new company, while Toyota Industries will own the remaining balance. But the consumer electronics group plans to take full control of the merged entity by the end of March 2009.
Both ST LCD and ST Mobile Display sell most of their output to Sony.
ST LCD has the capacity to make 40,000 units of 600x720mm motherboards a month, while ST Mobile Display can manufacture 25,000 units of 550x650mm motherboards a month.
