November 3, 2005 – Fuji Photo Film Co. will start mass production of electromagnetic interference films for plasma display television sets in early 2006 with initial film production for 100,000 units of PDP TVs per month, senior official Masaaki Otani said in an interview with the Jiji Press.

The company aims to grab a 30% market share in two to three years and will need little additional investment for the project because it will use existing facilities to produce silver films in Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan. The company’s cellulose triacetate film, a core component of LCD TVs, controls a market share of about 80%.

Fuji Photo’s annual output of such films, called TAC film, will total 380 million sq m after a new plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, starts production in December 2006.

Otani said Fuji Photo will make additional investment in the new plant after assessing LCD demand. The factory will be able to supply as many as 580 million sq m of TAC films annually, even without any expansion of its site, he said. The company is also researching materials that can be used for other types of flat-panel TVs, Otani said.