(Yicai Global) July 31 -- A CNY61 billion (USD8.9 billion) plant that an affiliate of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, has invested in went into operation today in China's southeastern Guangdong province. It is the single-largest inward investment into the provincial capital of Guangzhou ever.

Projected to start mass production at the end of September, the plant has annual output capacity of 90,000 units of glass substrate for use in ultra-high definition large screens, including 65- and 75-inch displays, smart televisions and electronic whiteboards, the Beijing News reported.

The factory is run by Osaka, Japan-based Sakai Display Products, a joint venture which SIO International Holdings -- a company owned by Foxconn head Terry Gou -- and Japanese electronics giant Sharp jointly set up and which owns 47.86 percent of the plant. Entities Guangzhou city owns have a 47.62 percent stake.

SIO International raised its shareholding in the JV to over 50 percent in December 2016, online media CDRinfo reported. Compared with Sharp's 26.71 percent, the Foxconn sibling is clearly in the driver's seat.

Sakai Display penned a cooperative agreement with Guangzhou for the plant, whose total investment is CNY61 billion, to create a display panel ecological chain with total annual output that could be worth CNY92 billion. The project is the single largest ever outlay to land a project in the city. The parties will defray its costs based on their respective shares.

Displays are classed into generations based on the size of the glass substrates used, going up the scale as technical advances permit production of ever-larger panes. The current 10.5-generation (also called the 11th) is the highest grade at 294 x 337 centimeters. Larger dimensions (generations) yield bigger screens with higher efficiency in cutting them into individual panels.

Editor: Ben Armour