Japan Display, the merger between Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi's small and medium-sized touchscreen LCD manufacturing divisions, began operations on April 1st. The relationship between the three companies was announced in August last year, before being formalized in November. Each of the manufacturers has a 10 percent stake in the new firm, with the remaining 70 percent held by the largely government-funded Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ). Including the 200 billion yen (around $2.4 billion) investment by INCJ, Japan Display currently holds 230 billion yen (just over $2.8 billion) in capital.

The structure of the new firm has also been revealed: seven divisions will focus on different aspects of the industry, with departments for research and development, manufacturing, mobile business, and automotive and industrial displays. It was also announced that more that around 1,400 employees were made redundant during the merger, with the losses mainly in production and support staff.

Japan Display president Shuichi Otsuka has made the company's level of ambition clear: "We aim to become a global leading company born in Japan. We will make quick decisions with the flat organization." This refers to a management structure of only nine people, with operating officers also doubling up as division directors.