Sakai Display Products (SDP) posted losses of 59.2 billion JPY for the fiscal year ended Dec 2016, despite profit record of last 3 years. The company is a large screen LCD panel manufacturer with a 10th generation (G10) LCD plant originally founded by Sharp Corporation. Now the majority of the company is owned by Foxconn founder and chairman Terry Gou’s investment company, while Sharp retains stake of approximately 20%. The effect of the appreciation of JPY in early 2016 and the price decline of large screen LCD panels seem to be the main causes.
In late 2016, SDP stopped supplying LCD panels to its major customer Samsung due to price increase. SDP has since switched focus to supply LCD panels exclusively to Sharp and Foxconn Group. SDP is also expanding its business in China and the US. It has signed contract with Guangzhou government to build a 10.5 generation plant in Guangzhou, China. There is rumor of building a large scale LCD panel plant in the US.
Apart from SDP, all major LCD panel manufacturers, including LG Display, Innolux and AUO, posted profit in 2016.