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Sharp To Expand Appliance Offering At The Expense Of TV’s In OZ

Sharp has decided not to enter the Australian TV market in the short but they are set to “significantly” expand their appliance and iOT offering during the next 18 months following the acquisition of the Japanese Company by Foxconn.

The decision to not re-enter the Australian TV market was driven by market size and a “white hot desire” by Sharp executives to become a major player in the European, Asian and US TV markets said Foxconn executives in Taiwan recently. “The Australian market is very small and we have bigger markets to tackle” said a Sharp executive.
The Japanese company, which supplies Apple with iPhone display panels, said its “smart home” business unit, whose products include high-end Internet-linked appliances, would be a major driver of growth.

It forecast sales for the division of more than US$9 billion in the fiscal year ending in March 2020.

“We are definitely going to achieve a V-shaped recovery,” Sharp Chief Executive Tai Jeng-wu told reporters at the company’s headquarters in Taipei. Sharp expects its first net profit in four years this fiscal year, forecasting it at US $530 million.

In Australia, the Company is currently downsizing to new offices North Ryde.

Mr. Tai is the No. 2 official at Foxconn, which is formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. 2317 -0.48%

The Wall Street Journal said that Sharp, which was bought by Foxconn last year after falling into financial crisis, is known in Japan as a maker of quirky electronic products such as smartphone-hybrid humanoid robots.

Its growth, however, has been largely driven by liquid-crystal displays it provides for TVs and smartphones. That market has always been volatile, and Sharp last year teetered close to bankruptcy, weighed down by heavy factory investments of the past.

While the display business will remain an important source of revenue, Mr. Tai said company will step up efforts to provide “smart office” products to enterprise clients and invest in developing sensors for next-generation automobiles.

Foxconn’s profile as the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer will help Sharp spread its appliance innovations, said Atsushi Osanai, a professor at Waseda Business School in Tokyo. “Sharp can become Apple of the home-appliance industry if it works well with Foxconn,” he said. “It’s not totally unrealistic that Sharp becomes a realistic competitor to Samsung in the global appliance market.”

Sharp and other Japanese electronics makers made their name globally with TVs and other consumer electronics. However, they have rarely been major global suppliers of appliances. Analysts say they failed to develop products based on local requirements and withdrew prematurely from unprofitable markets.



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