Toshiba 1998 Annual Report Download - page 15

Toshiba Corporation Annual Report 1998 13.
Toshiba h as concluded m an ufacturing allian ces with
other prom inen t com panies with a view to quickly add-
ing skills in new tech n ologies. In September 1997, th e
Dom inion Semiconductor, L.L.C. joint-venture com pany
with IBM started wafer production for 64M DRAMs.
Toshiba is providin g 64M DRAM technology to its Asian
partn er Win bond Electronics Corp. Production is pro-
ceedin g on schedule, serving as an im portant source of
th ese soph isticated m em ory chips.
con sum ption is cut by 75 percen t. With a system for
m ass production in place, Toshiba plans to reap th e
ben efits of its position as the pioneer in low-tem perature
polysilicon TFT LCDs.
OTHER ELECTRON DEVICES
Con dition s were difficult for TV color picture tubes. In
Japan, the m arket for wide-screen m odels was weak.
Toshiba reinforced its product developm ent activities.
On e result was th e January 1998 laun ch of the first
sh adow-m ask flat picture tube—the Flat Super Brightron.
Color display tubes for com puters were h urt by stiff
com petition from m akers in Korea and Taiwan and by a
steep drop in OEM prices. Toshiba strengthen ed its
global production system to stay com petitive. Domestic
output of 17- an d 19-inch m odels was raised while
speeding up the tran sfer of 15-inch production to
Toshiba Display Devices (Thailan d) Co., Ltd. With
m on itor production in the NAFTA zon e rising, Tosh iba
Display Devices Inc. of the Un ited States plan s to begin
m aking 17-in ch tubes in th e summ er of 1998.
In rechargeable batteries, expansion of production
capacity an d improvem ents in battery perform an ce have
led to m arket sh are gains for Tosh iba. Much h igher
dem and for lith ium -ion batteries for portable teleph ones
has been a m ajor contributor to growth in battery sales.
Com m itted to sustainin g th is mom en tum , Toshiba plans
to in troduce n ew products for personal com puters in th e
second h alf of fiscal 1998.
LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAYS
The industry leader in 12.1-inch pan els, Tosh iba posted
record sales in the first h alf of the fiscal year. Growth was
m ain ly the result of full-scale production at a ph ase-th ree
production line th at boosted productivity. Although prices
declin ed durin g th e second h alf, LCD sales for the en tire
year were un ch anged from th e prior year’s level. Volatility
persists in th e LCD markets due to shifts in the balan ce
between supply an d dem and. Tosh iba’s strategy is to
accelerate the developm ent of displays for next-gen eration
products, wh ile keeping perform an ce h igh an d cutting
costs. Th e m ain line Supershrink series, wh ich has the
world’s sm allest extern al dim ension s, perm its 12.1-in ch
TFT LCD displays to fit in A4 size n otebook com puters.
This series is now th e de-facto standard in its class.
Low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCDs, wh ich offer
high resolution and low power consum ption , are viewed
as th e n ext core technology in th e LCD m arket. Toshiba
has com m ercialized an 8.4-inch SVGA LCD module for
m obile products, as well as a 13.3-inch XGA m odel.
Anoth er ach ievem en t is th e first reflective 8.4-inch low-
tem perature polysilicon TFT LCD with high resolution
an d light weight. This reflective LCD has 40 percen t fewer
parts than an am orph ous silicon type requires. Power
Production of 0.35-micron-
rule 64M DRAMs started in
the fall of 1997 at Dominion
Semiconductor, a joint-
venture company with IBM.
Plans call for a switch to
0.25-micron technology in
the second half of 1998.
Covering a broad range of products, Toshiba Battery
Co., Ltd. has a product line that extends from
alkaline-manganese cells to lithium-ion, nickel-metal
hydride and other rechargeable batteries.
Electronic Devices & Materials