Sharp Corporation will start selling world's largest LCD display

Famous Japanese electronics company, Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753), announced that it is going to start shipping the world’s largest LCD display from next month. The 108-inch display would cost roughly 11million yen and would be made to sell to various business organizations. Next year, another Japanese company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (TYO:6752), is planning to sell its 150 inch plasma display for billboards. Network World.com reports:

Sharp has begun offering a monitor based on the 108-inch LCD panel that it first unveiled over a year ago. The panel, which is the largest yet to be shown by any LCD maker, was first unveiled in January 2007 at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and promised for later in the year but was delayed. Now it's available to customers worldwide, built-to-order, for ¥11 million (US$102,000).

The Full HD (1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels) monitor comes with a wide array of input sockets. There's analog RGB and DVI computer inputs, 3 HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) inputs, two composite video inputs, two sets of component video inputs and one S-Video input. The entire set weighs an impressive 195 kilograms and consumes 1.1 kilowatts (kW) when in use.

Weak demand for big televisions has hurt major manufacturers like Hitachi Ltd, Pioneer Corporation (TYO: 6773), and Sharp Corporation. Hitachi and Pioneer incurred losses on their TV operations. Initially, Sharp had plans to focus on larger displays but it shifted switched to 40 inch and smaller displays in the middle of 2007.

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Japan's nuclear-power-plant builders will receive aid from

Japan’s nuclear-power-plant-builders that are working on U.S projects are going to receive financial aid from Japan Bank for International Cooperation under the request of Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy unit of the trade ministry. Bloomberg reports:

In a move to reduce investment risks of companies that participate in U.S. nuclear-plant projects, the agency might ask the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to make loans to companies such as Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd., the news service reported.

U.S. and Japanese energy officials are scheduled to meet May 23 in Tokyo to discuss Japan's policy on aid to the U.S., which plans to build 30 nuclear reactors over the next 20 years, Nikkei said.

Japanese companies are now moving into US nuclear market. Japanese company Toshiba Corporation (TYO:6502) bought Westinghouse Electric Co., a Pennsylvania-based nuclear-power-system. Hitachi Ltd. (TYO:6501) with General Electric Co. is exploring the U.S. market.

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