JDI decided to sell LCD production equipment to a foreign client for 200 million dollars

JDI announced that it has agreed to sell production equipment at its plant in Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture, to a foreign client for 200 million dollars.

The Hakusan plant was JDI’s mainstay factory, producing LCD panels for Apple. The plant was halted in July last year due to sluggish demand. JDI plans to clean up excess facilities that have caused poor performance.

JDI decided to sell LCD production equipment to Apple first and real estate to Sharp later, but negotiations have been delayed due to the effect of the corona virus.

The Hakusan plant was built with Apple’s $ 1.5 billion funds and operated at the end of 2016. But because Apple’s utilization of OLED panels on iPhones has increased in recent years, utilization rate of Hakusan plant has decreased. Moreover, it was a burden for JDI to repay the advances to Apple at the end of February 2020. It is a policy that the funds obtained through the sale of the equipment will be used to repay advances.