Sharp said it will miss a 29 March deadline to receive the second half of a $120 million investment from Qualcomm after it failed to complete a plan to begin fabricating power-saving screens the companies are jointly developing.
Qualcomm, which paid half the $120 million in December, set conditions for the remainder that included having completed the specifications for the smartphone and tablet PC screens and preparations for their production.
San Diego-based chipmaker Qualcomm also said Sharp would have to make an operating profit in the second half of its business year and have at least yen100 billion of net assets.
"The financial targets are not the reason for the delay," Sharp spokesperson Miyuki Nakayama said.
Sharp and Qualcomm will now fall back to a 30 June deadline for the Japanese company to meet conditions for the second payment, she added.
The companies said in December that Qualcomm, through its Pixtronix subsidiary, would work with Sharp to develop new power-saving screens based on Sharp's IGZO technology.
Missing the second deadline would add pressure on cash-strapped Sharp as it looks for money to repay a $2.1 billion convertible bond in September. Japan's leading LCD panel maker has also failed to renegotiate an agreement for Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry to buy a 9.9% stake, with a 26 March deadline expected to pass with no revised agreement in place.
Samsung Electronics this month agreed to invest $110 million in Sharp, which supplies screens for Apple's iPhone 5 and iPad, in return for a 3% stake and a promise from Sharp to bolster panel supplies to the Korean company.
To meet its financial obligations sources at Sharp and its banks, as well as analysts, have told Reuters they expect the Osaka-based company will resort to equity financing to make up any shortfall after it adds up available cash flow and gains from asset and stake sales.
Sharp is in talks to sell its Chinese TV assembly plant to Lenovo Group and its Mexican TV factory to Hon Hai. Sharp, however, is limited in its ability to sell assets because last year it had to mortgage most of its domestic plants and offices to secure a $3.8 billion bank bailout.
A junk rating from credit agencies has also made raising money in the credit markets expensive.
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