SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 4 -- The United States Display Consortium (USDC), a private and public partnership created to build a flat panel display infrastructure, has awarded two development contracts. The consortium will give $1.5 million to CHA Industries of Fremont, Calif., for construction of a web coating deposition tool. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Supertex Inc. will receive $600,000 for production of high-voltage drivers for use in large area plasma displays and vacuum fluorescent displays. Both companies will match the USDC funding under a fifty-percent cost-share formula, bringing the total investment for development of these new capabilities to $4.2 million.
With these two awards, USDC and US industry investment in flat panel display tool and materials projects now exceeds $130 million. The consortium has launched more than 50 projects on behalf of its 16 member companies and 30 user-group companies since 1994. USDC receives financial support from the US Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.