It's reported Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. said that they will mass produce next-generation organic displays, spending roughly $140 million to cash in on the growing market for the ultra-thin screens On July 22.

The announcement follows plans by South Korea's Samsung SDI Co. to expand output capacity six-fold, dwarfing Japanese firms' current production of active-matrix OLED displays. Display makers are jockeying for share in the fast growing market for organic displays, which are slimmer and consume less battery power than liquid crystal screens.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., 60-percent owned by Toshiba and 40-percent by Matsushita, plans to invest about $140 million by late 2009 to make the equivalent of 1 million 2.5-inch panels a month, a spokesman of the joint venture said. Toshiba Matsushita has no plans at the moment to mass produce larger displays for TVs. The panels would be used in mobile phones and car navigation systems.