Device Arena

Sony Corporation (“Sony”) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (“Samsung”) today announced that the two companies have signed agreements to transition the current business relationship with respect to LCD panels.

Under the agreement, Samsung will acquire all of Sony’s shares of S-LCD Corporation (“S-LCD”), the two companies’ LCD panel manufacturing joint venture, making S-LCD a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung. In consideration for the share transfer, cash consideration of approximately KRW 1.08 trillion* will be paid to Sony by Samsung. Concurrently, the two companies have entered into a new strategic agreement for the supply and purchase of LCD panels with a goal of enhancing the competitiveness of both companies. The agreement also allows Sony and Samsung to continue cooperative engineering efforts focused on LCD panel technology.

For Sony, this transaction will enable it to monetize its shares in S-LCD and aims to secure a flexible and steady supply of LCD panels from Samsung, based on market prices and without the responsibility and costs of operating a manufacturing facility. With whole ownership of S-LCD, Samsung anticipates heightened flexibility, speed and efficiency in both panel production and business operations.

Established in April 2004, S-LCD has continued to deliver advanced and cost-competitive LCD panels to both of its parent companies, contributing to the expansion of the respective parties’ TV businesses, and the large-sized LCD TV market overall. However, LCD panel and TV market conditions have now changed. In order to respond to such challenging conditions and to strengthen their respective market competitiveness, the two companies have agreed to shift to a new LCD panel business alliance.

The share transfer and payment are targeted to close by the end of January 2012, subject to necessary approvals from regulatory authorities.

As a result of this transaction, a non-cash impairment loss of approximately JPY 66 billion is expected to be incurred by Sony in the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, due to the reevaluation of its S-LCD shares. This loss includes an impact from the fluctuation of exchange rate. Despite this one-time loss, Sony estimates that the transaction will result in substantial savings on and after January 1, 2012 in respect of costs associated with its procurement of LCD panels. The current estimate of the yearly savings in respect of such costs is approximately JPY 50 billion, compared to LCD panel procurement costs estimated for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. Neither the one-time loss nor the estimated cost savings were included in Sony’s forecast of consolidated financial results for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, announced on November 2, 2011. Sony is currently reevaluating this forecast, taking into account this transaction and other factors that might affect its full year FY2011 consolidated financial results forecast.

Facts about S-LCD
Established
:April 26, 2004
Capital
:KRW 3.3 Trillion
(Samsung Electronics: 50% plus 1 share, Sony: 50% minus 1 share)

Representative
:Donggun Park, CEO
Location
:Tangjeong, Chung Cheong Nam-Do, South Korea
Production Items
:7th and 8th generation Amorphous TFT LCD
*Note: The final amount of such payment will be determined based on S-LCD’s financial statements as of the end of December 2011.

sony.net

HP Enterprise Services and Microsoft Corp. today announced a global, four-year initiative to deliver Microsoft’s leading communications and collaboration applications via global private and public cloud services.

Under the agreement, HP and Microsoft will offer private and public cloud solutions designed to help organizations rapidly scale new users, shift IT resources from maintenance to innovation and change IT from a capital to operating expense. The solutions include the following:

•
Private cloud: HP Enterprise Cloud Services – Messaging, HP Enterprise Cloud Services – Collaboration and HP Enterprise Cloud Services – Real-Time Collaboration deliver Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 productivity applications as a service from HP datacenters around the world.
•
Public cloud: Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft’s Office collaboration and productivity tools, will be delivered by Microsoft through the cloud.
•
Hybrid solution: HP will resell Microsoft Office 365 with HP Enterprise Cloud Services – Messaging, HP Enterprise Cloud Services – Collaboration and HP Enterprise Cloud Services – Real-Time Collaboration.1
HP and Microsoft engineering resources will collaborate to deploy, support and enhance the new solutions. The solutions will launch globally, with initial availability this month in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“Large organizations, particularly those in regulated industries like financial services and public sector, have demanding functionality and service level requirements,” said Brandt Faatz, vice president, Workplace Services, HP Enterprise Services. “HP and Microsoft help meet these needs with a flexible range of global, cost-efficient, cloud-based productivity solutions running on the latest technology.”

“Microsoft is committed to putting the unique and ever-evolving needs of customers at the core of cloud innovation,” said Mark Hill, vice president, Enterprise Partner Group, Microsoft. “This alliance with HP not only broadens Microsoft’s geographic reach, it gives customers maximum flexibility to choose a cloud computing solution that meets their organization’s specialized messaging and collaboration needs.”

HP and Microsoft have delivered technical innovation together for more than 25 years. They offer joint solutions that help organizations around the world improve services through the use of innovative technologies.

www.microsoft.com

Toshiba Corporation
Sony Corporation

Toshiba Corporation (“Toshiba”) and Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that they had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding expressing their intent to transfer from Toshiba to Sony the semiconductor fabrication facilities owned by Toshiba and operated by Nagasaki Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (“NSM”), a joint venture among Toshiba, Sony and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (“SCEI”), and, following the contemplated transfer, terminate their NSM joint venture relationship.

NSM, which was established in March 2008 and is located in the Nagasaki Technology Center of Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation (“SCK”), has been manufacturing the high-performance “Cell Broadband Engine™” processor, the graphics engine “RSX” and other high-performance semiconductors and leading-edge SoC (system-on-a-chip) for applications in digital consumer products of Toshiba and Sony. The facilities to be transferred would be the fabrication facilities and equipment for the 300 mm wafer line located within the Nagasaki Technology Center purchased by Toshiba from Sony and SCK and leased to NSM in 2008 and other facilities that Toshiba and Sony will agree to transfer among those in which Toshiba invested in connection with the operation by NSM after the purchase.

After due diligence on the facilities to be transferred and continuing negotiations, Toshiba and Sony aim to execute definitive agreements (with respect to the contemplated transfer of the semiconductor fabrication facilities) as soon as possible before the end of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. Thereafter, Toshiba and Sony aim to complete the transfer early in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, subject to any necessary government approvals.

Outline of NSM
Establishment: March 3, 2008
Location: 1883-43, Tsukuba-machi, Isahaya-city, Nagasaki, Japan
Capital: 100 million yen
Ownership: Toshiba 60%, Sony 20% and SCEI 20%
Representatives: Masaaki Kinugawa, Chairman of the Board and Director(Chief Executive Officer)
Nobuhiro Yamaguchi, President and Director(Chief Operating Officer)
Business Activities: Manufacture of high-performance semiconductors, including the “Cell Broadband Engine™” processor and the graphics engine “RSX”
Number of employees: Approximately 460 as of December 1, 2010

sony.net

Official Site of Sprint Samsung Instinct: http://www.samsunginstinct.com/