After long years of absence, the traditional Japanese TV brand Sharp returns to the US market, where it was once one of the strongest players.
It will do so from an alliance with Roku, which will provide the installed software, and with equipment manufactured in Mexico, at the plant of Sharp’s parent company, the Taiwanese Foxconn. Nikkei.
Sales will begin in the spring of 2022, but manufacturing will start earlier, so there can be significant expectations regarding the workforce that the company could add.
The Osaka-based company is looking to launch large (50-75-inch) and 4K super-high-definition LCD televisions in the United States.
Nikkei says that the decision to manufacture the TVs in Mexico is related to the intention of keeping “costs low.”
The televisions will be sold with Roku’s proprietary software previously installed, thanks to an alliance between the two companies.
The platform allows viewers to watch TV shows on Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services.
Foxconn bought Sharp in mid-2016. In the early years, it licensed the brand to Hisense, but Sharp complained that the Chinese company was damaging the company’s image, and the contract was dissolved.
In the United States, the TV market is dominated by the Korean Samsung, with a market share of almost 38%. The second is LG, with 15% and the third, the Chinese TCL, with 9.8%. Data is from DSCC.
Other data from a survey on TV ownership by brand shows that in the United States about 33 percent of TVs are “Samsung.” Sharp still has 2%.
Roku’s technology is in direct competition with Fire TV, developed by Amazon.com.
Despite the fact that Sharp has had financial complications in recent years, the Japanese company still has one of the most important consumer electronics businesses in the world: the most important manufacture of screens and televisions in Asia. In addition, it is one of the suppliers of large companies.
In space, it is the largest screen manufacturer working for Apple. These days, it supplies the screens of the iPhone 13. That business was one of the main reasons for Foxconn to decide on the purchase.