Sekisui Chemical Co is considering acquiring part of Sharp Corp's plant in Osaka Prefecture in a bid to make the obsolete factory a production hub of next-generation solar batteries, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The Japanese chemical firm plans to produce perovskite solar cells at the site, the sources said. The thin, light, flexible solar batteries are designed to be installed in places where existing solar cells cannot be attached such as curved surfaces and the exterior walls of buildings.
The technology has been drawing attention in recent years as a way to significantly increase solar power generation. Japan's industry ministry is likely to subsidize the project as it is expected to contribute to decarbonization, according to the sources.
Perovskite solar cells are made mainly from iodine and Japan is the second largest producer of the element in the world. The relative ease in building domestic supply chains is another reason the technology is being backed by Japan as it seeks to strengthen its economic security.
"We cannot comment (on the reported plan) as nothing has been decided yet," a Sekisui Chemical official told Kyodo News.
Sharp halted production of large liquid crystal display panels at the plant in Sakai last month to stem a loss in the unprofitable business. It was the only television LCD panel manufacturing factory in Japan.
The troubled tech company said in June it will turn part of the plant into one of the largest artificial intelligence data centers in Asia as part of its efforts to improve its business.
SoftBank Corp is also in talks with Sharp to acquire part of the factory to build an AI data center.
The portion of the plant Sekisui Chemical is hoping to acquire does not overlap with the area Sharp and SoftBank are trying to utilize, the sources said. Sekisui Chemical also plans to use some of the equipment left there such as clean rooms.
© KYODO
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nandakandamanda
Sounds good.