(April 21, 2004, Tokyo) Promoting the aggressive development of TFT-LCD panels for mobile products, ST Liquid Crystal Display Corporation (ST-LCD), a joint venture company established by Sony Corporation and Toyota Industries Corporation, today announced that it will invest 10 billion yen to expand its production capacity of low-temperature polysilicon thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) panels. ST-LCD's production capacity will be increased by 25% to 40,000 base-plates per month (600 X 720mm) in April 2005 to satisfy the increasing market demand.

Since April 1999, when full-scale production began, ST-LCD has been producing small size TFT LCD panels used in mobile devices, including digital video and still cameras, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cellular mobile phones. The current production capacity is 32,000 base-plates per month.

ST-LCD Corporation's LCD panels offer high resolution and high picture quality with low power consumption. In addition to these basic features, Sony offers a "System on glass" feature --- the system integration of the display device and its driver circuitry onto a single TFT glass base-plate. This enables ST-LCD to offer a compact display system, while increasing the reliability of each panel during the manufacturing process.

Outline of ST-LCD (as of Mar. 2004)

• Name
  ST Liquid Crystal Display Corporation
• Establishment
  October 22, 1997
• Location
  Aichi-Prefecture, Japan
• Capital
  50 billion yen
• Capital Investors
  Sony: 50%, Toyota Industries Corporation : 50%
• Representative
  Kohshi Iwata
• Business Outline
  Production of Low-Temperature Polysilicon TFT LCD panels
  32,000 glass base plates per month
• Production Capacity
  From April 2005, 40,000 glass base plates per month yielding 9 million panels, measuring 2 inches diagonally.
• Start of Production
  April 1999