Japan Display suitors say local Chinese govt supports OLED plant construction

TPK Holding Co

18/06/2019 06:41

TOKYO, June 18 (Reuters) - A Chinese-Taiwanese consortium
formed to invest in Japan Display Inc  6740.T  on Tuesday said a
Chinese provincial government has pledged support for its
proposed panel plant, indicating plans made with the Apple Inc
 AAPL.O  supplier are intact.
    The consortium "solidified Zhejiang government support in
the planned $6 billion OLED (organic light-emitting diode) plant
construction and its capital syndication," a spokesperson for
the group said in a statement.
    The consortium has previously said it intends make OLED
panels in China using Japan Display technology.
    The comment comes a day after Taiwanese screen maker TPK
Holding Co Ltd  3673.TW  pulled out of the consortium, muddying
the outlook for the struggling Japanese smartphone screen maker.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23O088
    Japan Display has been seeking an 80 billion yen ($739
million) cash injection to recover from the impact of slowing
sales of Apple's iPhone as well as a late shift to OLED screens.
    The consortium spokesperson on Tuesday said TPK, as an Apple
supplier, may incur "additional unwanted pressure" from
"cross-investment into another Apple supplier".
    TPK had proposed to invest $230 million. Despite its exit,
the consortium "has received investment commitments of over 80
billion yen," the spokesperson said.
    Japan Display declined to comment.

($1 = 108.3100 yen)

 (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
 ((Makiko.Yamazaki@thomsonreuters.com; 81-3-6441-1039;))