E Ink® Holdings, "E Ink" (8069.TW), the leading innovator of electronic ink technology today announced E Ink and Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, have agreed to establish a joint venture (“JV”) responsible for planning, designing, developing, manufacturing, selling, distributing and licensing products that utilize electronic paper displays, as well as related applications and the integration platform for system partners.
E Ink and Sony have cultivated a strong partnership through a wide array of collaboration products since 2004, with Sony selling Digital Paper adopting E Ink’s electronic paper display technology. The new JV will leverage both E Ink’s development and manufacturing technology for electronic paper displays and Sony’s expertise in product development and marketing. By doing so, it will aim to create new electronic paper display products and systems and grow the market of ePaper based solutions.
The JV is officially registered in Taiwan and has its Japan subsidiary registered in April. The company operation will be started soon after obtaining required regulatory approvals. E Ink’s subsidiaries and Sony Semiconductor Solutions jointly invest approximately 70% of JV shares and are the major shareholders leading the JV’s business to success. The remaining shares are subscribed by venture capital companies investing in rising startups. The JV’s paid in capital is NTD 420 million.
The Board of Directors of the JV includes directors assigned by E Ink and Sony Semiconductor Solutions. Terushi Shimizu, the Representative Director and President of Sony Semiconductor Solutions, serve as the board member for the JV. Johnson Lee, the President of E Ink Holdings, is appointed to be the Chairman.
“E Ink is very excited to deepen this partnership with Sony through the JV and honored to have such an experienced board member to provide guidance to the JV”, said Johnson Lee, the President of E Ink Holdings. “With the strong support and collaboration between E Ink and Sony, we believe the mutual efforts will lead the JV to a significant business growth.”
“Sony has worked on ePaper technology with E Ink for over a decade. Through this long-term partnership, we share the same vision with E Ink together to proliferate the use of ePaper,” said Terushi Shimizu.
In addition to providing products and applications, the JV will also collaborate with partner companies to develop services and solutions for multiple business segments. The JV will work to redefine the traditional work processes of documents and thereby create the new ePaper market. The JV envisions a future where electronic paper displays would become an essential tool to play a valuable role in the social infrastructure.
