SED TV Press Releases

Press releases from Canon and Toshiba pertaining to SED displays.

Toshiba and Canon Announce SED Launch Plan

8 March, 2006

Toshiba Corporation
Canon Inc.

Tokyo, March 8, 2006 -- Toshiba Corporation and Canon Inc. today announced that they will start the first stage of mass production of SED panels in July 2007 and launch SED TVs in the 4Q of calendar year 2007. SED, the Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display, is a next-generation flat-panel display that offers excellent performance characteristics.

The market for flat-panel TVs is expected to see continued high growth within the overall television market, with demand receiving a significant impetus from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and from the global shift from analogue to digital broadcasting. Toshiba and Canon see the popularity of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as an opportunity to strongly promote SED TVs.

Toshiba and Canon consider the launch of SED TVs to be a major industry milestone, a once-in-50-years historical turning point for the TV industry, comparable to the initial introduction of CRT television. The companies will maximize the technology's characteristics in order to resist commoditization and to establish SED TV as the technology of choice for high-definition, high-image-quality television viewing.

Toshiba Brings Wide Lineup of Latest Advances to CES 2006

January 4, 2006 - 13:00 ET

SED Theater

Experience the superb image quality of SED at the SED theater. The 36-inch screens on displays demonstrate how SED -- the Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display -- combines sleek, flat panel lines with the superior performance of a CRT. Like a CRT, the SED shoots electrons at a phosphor-coated screen to emit light. But SED does it with electron emitters for each individual pixel in the display, not an electron gun shooting at the whole screen. Created through joint development work by Toshiba and Canon, the SED is the next-generation route to high definition images offering high brightness, contrast and color gradation levels, as well as fast video-response performance and low power consumption.

Toshiba Selects Himeji as Candidate Site to Mass-Produce SED Panels

31 May, 2005

Tokyo -- Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has selected Himeji Operations, its production facility in Hyogo prefecture, western Japan, as a candidate site for mass production of SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) panels, the next-generation flat panel display being developed by SED Inc., a joint venture established by Toshiba Corporation and Canon Inc.

SED brings the image quality of the traditional cathode-ray tube (CRT) to flat panel displays, delivering bright, high resolution images offering high contrast, high gradation levels, fast responsiveness and low power consumption. Toshiba and Canon, through their joint venture, SED Inc., will start pilot production of the displays in August this year at Canon's Hiratsuka facility in Kanagawa prefecture, and expect to move to full-scale mass production in a new, dedicated facility in January 2007.

Toshiba's Himeji Operations has been identified as a prime candidate for the new production base. In addition to an available site, the plant has proven expertise in manufacturing CRT and mass production of semiconductors, and enjoys excellent domestic and international logistics. Starting this year, a 180-billion yen investment will be directed to building the SED mass-production facility over the next two years. Plans for the construction of a new building and equipment installation will be agreed and implemented by Toshiba, Canon and SED Inc.

Toshiba and Canon have driven development of SED by fusing Canon's proprietary electron-emission and microfabrication technologies with Toshiba's world-class expertise in CRT and mass-production of liquid crystal displays and semiconductors. SED is already attracting widespread attention for taking flat panel TVs to new level of performance, and Toshiba and Canon are determined to build on present progress and momentum to deliver an exciting new viewing experience to consumers around the world.

Overview of Toshiba Himeji Operations (in Taishi area)
Location : 300, Ikaruga, Taishi-cho, Ibo-gun, Hyogo Pref.
Established : January 1960
General Manager : Makoto Harigae
Employee : 1,300
Site Area : 183,000 square meters

CANON, TOSHIBA TO CREATE JOINT VENTURE FOR NEXT-GENERATION FLAT-SCREEN SED PANELS

14 September, 2004

TOKYO -- Canon Inc. (President & CEO: Fujio Mitarai) and Toshiba Corporation (President & CEO: Tadashi Okamura) announced today that the two companies have agreed to establish a joint venture in October 2004 for the development, production and marketing of next-generation flat-screen SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) panels.

The SED, based on a new type of flat-panel display technology, was created through the merging of Canon's proprietary electron-emission and microfabrication technologies with Toshiba's cathode-ray-tube (CRT) technology and mass-production technologies for liquid crystal displays and semiconductors. Like conventional CRT televisions, the SED utilizes the collision of electrons with a phosphor-coated screen to emit light. Electron emitters, which correspond to an electron gun in a CRT television, are distributed in an amount equal to the number of pixels on the display. In addition to high brightness and high definition, the SED delivers exceptional overall image quality—fast video-response performance, high contrast, high gradation levels—and low power consumption.

Canon began research in the field of SED technology in 1986 and, in 1999, began joint development activities with Toshiba with the aim of commercializing an SED product. In light of the progress realized at this stage of the joint development process, Canon and Toshiba, deeming the timing appropriate, agreed upon the establishment of a joint venture. Plans for the new company call for the commercialization of SED panels primarily for large-screen flat-panel televisions, with production scheduled to begin in 2005. Following the initial launch, a mass-production factory will be readied and production volume will be increased.

The flat-panel TV segment is expected to continue displaying growth within the television market. Additionally, the advent of digital Hi-Vision broadcasting and next-generation DVDs, along with digital cameras and video camcorders, is expected to fuel the spread of high-definition, high-quality next-generation content. Amid these developments, Canon and Toshiba aim to firmly establish SED technology as a new type of flat-panel display ideally suited for the display of next-generation high-definition, high-quality images.

Company name: SED Inc.
Date of establishment: October 2004 (tentative)
Business activities: Development, production and marketing of SED panels
Address: 22-5 Tamura 9-chome, Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa
President: Shunichi Uzawa (now Canon Inc. director and Group Executive, SED Development Headquarters)*
Capital: JPY 1,000.05 million at time of establishment
Equity structure: Canon: 50.002% / Toshiba: 49.998%
No. of employees: Approx. 300 (tentative, as of January 2005)