AR-266 series of digital MFP awarded Energy Conservation Center Chairman’s Prize at the Energy Conservation Awards (standby power consumption: less than 1 W)

Constructs new production facility for high-performance printed circuit boards at Mihara Plant

Receives Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister’s Prize at the Global Environment Awards for environment-related efforts, including closed-loop recycling technology for waste plastic

Opens dedicated AQUOS LCD TV showroom in Nagoya, Japan

Markets world’s largest 45V-inch full-HD LCD TV

Signs joint development agreement with the US State of New Mexico in the new energy field, including photovoltaic power generation

Begins start-to-finish integrated production of "Kameyama brand" large-screen LCD TVs at the Kameyama Plant in Mie Prefecture

Announces Illuminating Solar Panels intended to expand new applications

Markets Superheated Steam Oven, the dream cooking appliance of the 21st century that "roasts" with water

Kameyama Plant wins Grand Prize, Nikkei Monozukuri Awards, as a production facility that has adopted state-of-the-art technology and creative, original systems

Markets AQUOS high-definition recorder that can record and play back high-resolution images in HDTV format exactly as broadcast to/from HDD or Blu-ray Disc

Boosts annual solar production capacity to 500 MW, the world’s highest

Achieves world’s highest solar cell production volume for 6 years in a row

Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi inspects the Kameyama Plant, Sharp’s state-of-the-art LCD production facility

Announces goal of becoming a zero global warming impact company by 2010 and intention to strengthen priority business areas of solar cells, LCDs, and LCD TVs

Begins construction of new second LCD production facility at the Kameyama Plant

Establishes Sharp Electronics Sales (China) Co., Ltd. (SESC), a wholly owned sales subsidiary in China

Signs agreement to take over LCD business of Fujitsu Ltd.

Announces Color Renaissance concept for digital MFPs

Domestic shipments of camera-equipped mobile phones pass the 20 million mark

17-inch X-ray sensor for medical treatment using a direct-conversion flat panel detector (FPD) wins grand prize of Nikkei BP Technology Awards

Total worldwide production of microwave ovens reaches 100 million

Markets world’s largest 65V-inch full-HD LCD TV

Starts mass production of Dual Directional Viewing LCD that displays different information simultaneously when viewed from right or left and Switchable Viewing-Angle LCD that controls viewing angle to prevent others from viewing the screen

Awarded Grand Prize in the 21st Corporate Communications Awards sponsored by the Keizai Koho Center, commending Sharp’s outstanding corporate public relations activities

Opens new copier manufacturing facility in Thailand

Products equipped with Plasmacluster Ion generators achieve total sales of 10 million units worldwide

Joint R&D laboratory established with the University of Tokyo on the Komaba Campus (Todai-Sharp Laboratories).

Electronic calculators first introduced to the world by Sharp recognized with a prestigious IEEE Milestone from the IEEE, a worldwide electrical and electronics engineering society. This recognition gives high marks to Sharp for contributing to the development of the industry and for its innovative work in reducing the size and power consumption of the desktop electronic calculator