Samsung gets foot in at key Apple supplier with $110m investment

Samsung Electronics Co, with a $110 million investment in cash-strapped Sharp Corp, will broaden its supplier base, gain access to low-power thin screen technology and get a foot in the door at one of Apple Inc's key Asian display suppliers, Reuters reported.


The relatively low-cost deal will leave Samsung with a 3 percent stake in Japan's TV pioneer, making it a leading foreign shareholder alongside chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, which in December agreed to invest as much as $120 million. Shares in Sharp, which was bailed out by its banks last October, jumped on news of the lifeline.


It is also a rare cross-border technology deal between two rival countries and the first time the South Korean TV maker has taken a stake in a major Japanese rival. Japan's three big TV set makers, Sharp, Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp, are struggling to overcome losses as Samsung clobbers them in overseas markets.


Although Sharp is one of Samsung's smallest suppliers, its importance to the Korean company will likely grow as demand for large-screen TVs over 60 inches burgeons, analysts say. Preferential pricing could improve Samsung's competitive edge in TVs.