日经复盘稿：新光电气收购JDI茂原厂改建AI封装基板厂，核心交易9月底已公告

TOKYO -- A factory that once carried the hopes of Japan's display industry will be reborn under its fifth owner in the latest twist in a story that follows the changing fortunes of the Japanese electronics sector.
New owner Shinko Electric Industries plans to use the Mobara factory, about 50 kilometers southeast of Tokyo, to make semiconductor package substrates for artificial-intelligence-related applications starting as early as fiscal 2028.
A new factory would take at least three years to become operational, according to the company, which said it could start operations in just over a year using the existing site.
Production equipment is slated to be installed in fiscal 2027.
Japan Display Inc., also known as JDI, negotiated for more than a year to sell the Mobara plant. A deal with Shinko was announced in September.
During that time, South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix and American peer Micron Technologies were reportedly interested in acquiring the site. A data center operator was also said to be considering a purchase, but no deals were struck.
One reason that potential buyers hesitated was uncertainty over the plant's power supply. Chip production requires massive amounts of electricity. Japan Display President Jun Akema had said that the company was working with utilities and the local government to secure power, but that there were still concerns about the supply.
There were other problems, such as the ceiling height and load-bearing capacity of the floors, which made it unsuitable for equipment needed to make advanced semiconductor devices.
The Mobara plant's origins date back to before World War II.
A production facility for vacuum tubes was established there in 1935, drawing on abundant natural gas resources, according to the city of Mobara.
Hitachi took over the factory in 1943 as part of the industrial group's outsize presence in the area. The road in front of the factory still bears the name "Hitachi Street."
During the postwar boom in television manufacturing, the factory became a major supplier of cathode-ray tubes.
In the 2000s, the Mobara plant transformed into a hub for liquid crystal display panels. IPS Alpha Technology -- a joint venture established by Hitachi, Toshiba, and Matsushita Electric Industrial, now Panasonic Holdings -- established a state-of-the-art production facility there for TV screens.
But Japanese players lost ground to South Korean and Taiwanese rivals in LCDs. Panasonic, which took over the Mobara plant, was saddled with excess production capacity.
A new buyer for the plant appeared in JDI, which was formed in 2012 by combining operations from Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony into a hoped-for national champion.
With investment from the government-backed Innovation Network Corp. of Japan fund, the plant was refitted to make LCD panels for Apple's iPhone and other smartphones.
It served JDI well for a while, but the good times did not last. Apple switched from LCDs to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays for the iPhone. The increasingly idle plant put a heavy cost burden on Japan Display.
JDI eventually decided to sell. The sale leaves the company with just one Japanese factory, which makes LCD panels for automotive applications.
Other JDI plants were sold off to buyers including Sharp and a Sony group member.