Fuji Photo Film and Chinese electronic components company SVA Electron Company have anounced plans to establish a JV called SVA-Fujifilm Opto-Electronic Materials Company to manufacture color filters for TFT liquid crystal displays in Shanghai.

SVA-Fujifilm will be the first company in China to manufacture CF for large-size TFT LCDs. The new company will supply large-size CFs used in laptops, monitors, and large screen TVs for the rapidly growing Chinese LCD market, mainly through SVA-NEC, a member of the SVA group,

The new company will be capitalized at US$100 million at an investment rate of 75% for SVA and 25% for Fujifilm. The total capital investment is expected to be US$270 million.

The production line will use 5th generation glass substrate (1,100 x 1,300 mm), and production capacity based on glass substrate used is expected to be 70,000 units per month. Production is scheduled to begin in November 2007. When production begins on a mass scale, the company will have employed approximately 500 workers.

In addition, Fujifilm will invest approximately 4 billion yen to establish a new R&D Division within Fuji Photo Film China Investment Company, its subsidiary in China. The new R&D Division will conduct research on new products and LCD-related technology focusing primarily on CF. It will contribute to the development of LCD technology in China and will hasten the start-up of mass production in the new company.