[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

Sharp is getting a much-needed capital injection from Qualcomm. The roughly $120 million equity investment involves developing a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) display with Pixtronix, a subsidiary of Qualcomm. The capital will be used for the development of MEMS display and necessary capital investments.

The MEMS display to be developed jointly by the two companies is a display using ultrafine process technology and existing display manufacturing infrastructure with features including high color reproducibility and low-power consumption. The development for commercialization of MEMS display will be achieved by integrating Sharp’s core display technology, IGZO  and MEMS display technology of Pixtronix. IGZO (InGaZnO) is an oxide comprising indium (In), gallium (Ga), and zinc (Zn). A thin-film transistor using this material has been developed by Sharp in collaboration with Semiconductor Energy Laboratory in Japan.

Sharp and Qualcomm are also considering the possibility of  using chipsets made by Qualcomm Technologies,  a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm and IGZO-based display technology for lower power consumption and higher performance of mobile terminals.