Japan Display Inc. (JDI) has been negotiating with Chinese companies and investors to receive financial supports of JPY 50 billion (US$ 440.65 million), reported NHK. The potential investors include mobile component producer Ofilm, automotive component manufacturer Minth Group and the Silk Road Fund.

With the support, the Chinese investors will hold 33 percent or more of the share of JDI, suppressing the current major shareholder INCJ, who owns 25.29 percent of the share. In addition to the investment, the Chinese investors were also reportedly offering a JPY 500 billion (US$ 4.4 billion) fund for JDI to build new OLED facilities in China.

JDI expects to reach a consensus with the Chinese investors within the fiscal year of 2018, which ends by March 2019.

(Image: JDI)

JDI was established in 2012 as a merger of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi’s LCD screen units. The company has focused on the production of middle to small size panels with Apple being its major client for iPhone displays. The company has been in deficit in the past four years and its share price has dropped almost 80 percent this year. According to the report of Bloomberg, JDI has intended to move its focus from smartphone screens to sensors with the target of health-care applications since Apple cut its orders for iPhone due to weak demands.