Sharp is close to confirming a takeover deal with Foxconn in a move that could spell a big shake-up for future Apple devices.
The Taiwanese firm, which is heavily involved in the production of Apple’s iPhone and iPad products, will pay around 650 billion yen (£4.1bn) to acquire the Japanese company, having made an initial bid last month.
If successful, the partnership could see Sharp begin mass-producing high quality OLED screens for mobile devices over the next few years, with Apple expected to adopt this technology by 2018.
However, the deal has already been thrown into doubt this morning following the apparent revelation of new information surrounding the deal.
Bloomberg’s Peter Hoskins reported on Twitter earlier today that Foxconn was set to, “postpone any signing of a “definitive agreement” with Sharp as it was reviewing ‘new material information’ it received.
This could be related to Sharp’s financial struggles, as the company lost 222 billion yen (£1.34bn) last year despite major job cuts, and has been bailed out by banks several times.
The deal could also face significant opposition from the Japanese government itself, which is thought to be unwilling to let Sharp fall into foreign ownership, especially given Foxconn’s links with partners such as Apple.
Government and Sharp officials initially backed a rescue plan by state-backed Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ), which had planned to merge Sharp’s screen business with Japan Display in an effort to keep home-grown innovation within Japan.
What do you know about the latest iPhone? Try our quiz!
Targetting AWS, Microsoft? British competition regulator soon to announce “behavioural” remedies for cloud sector
Move to Elon Musk rival. Former senior executive at X joins Sam Altman's venture formerly…
Bitcoin price rises towards $100,000, amid investor optimism of friendlier US regulatory landscape under Donald…
Judge Kaplan praises former FTX CTO Gary Wang for his co-operation against Sam Bankman-Fried during…
Explore the future of work with the Silicon In Focus Podcast. Discover how AI is…
Executive hits out at the DoJ's “staggering proposal” to force Google to sell off its…