Sharp Holds Opening Ceremony for LCD Production Base that will Serve the European Market
Realizes start-to-finish processing―from module production to TV assembly

On August 28, 2007, Sharp held a ceremony to officially mark the opening of Sharp Manufacturing Poland Sp.z o.o. (SMPL), a production base that manufactures LCD modules and LCD TVs to meet a growing demand from the European market.

SMPL is located in Torun, Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship in the north-central part of the Republic of Poland. The first Sharp Group company in Europe to manufacture LCDs, SMPL has been producing LCD modules since January 2007 and began start-to-finish processing—from the production of modules to the assembly of finished TVs—in July of this year.

The opening ceremony was attended by Polish government officials, including Polish Prime Minister Kaczynski, Minister of Economy Wozniak, Governor Hoffman of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship , Mr. Tanabe the Japanese ambassador to Poland, representatives from Sharp's business partners, and Sharp President & COO Mikio Katayama.

Demand for LCD TVs in Europe has been growing for several years and is expected to increase to 36 million units by fiscal 2011 for a 30% share of the world market. And, with terrestrial analog broadcasting in Europe scheduled to stop, demand for large, full-HD TVs is expected to accelerate there.