Sony Spins Off Next-Gen Field-Emission Displays
The new company, dubbed Field Emission Technologies Inc. (FET), will be established on Dec. 18 in Tokyo. The total investment will be 2,520 million yen (about $22 million), 63.5 percent of which will be financed by the Tokyo-based technology carve-out fund represented by TechGate Investment. Sony will invest the remaining 36.5 percent.
The carving out method is used to spinout a business from a company with the support of the company. Third parties typically own the majority of the equity to enable independent operation from the parent company.
Sony has been developing FED technology since the late 1990s. Sony allied with Candescent Technologies Corp. from 1998 to 2001. And after the termination of that partnership, Sony continued single-handed R&D. Its R&D team has completed a 20-inch prototype, according to a Sony spokesman.
Sony intends to review the feasibility of FED technology in 18 months. If potential applications are proposed by FET, Sony may decide to re-absorb the company. But that is considered unlikely because if FET develops a high quality display, it would compete directly with OLED, which Sony has positioned as mainstream.
"The company can do business independently from Sony," said the Sony spokesman. "Its mission is to propagate FED technology. The fact that the third party fund heavily committed the company is the proof of the value of the technology."