iLounge

Toshiba will spend roughly $1.2 billion to build a new factory for making small LCD panels, primarily for Apple, according to a new report. Citing the Nikkei business daily, Reuters reports that the factory will be built in the Ishikawa prefecture and will produce high-resolution, low-temperature polysilicon LCD panels. Work on the plant is expected to start by early next year with production expected to begin in the second half of 2011; Toshiba already makes such panels at a nearby factory, and its month production capacity of 8.55 million units is expected to more than double with the new factory. Notably, the report claims that Apple will invest a portion of the investment necessary to build the new factory; the report did not indicate in which product or products the panels may be used.