Citing an increasingly fierce competition in the LCD IC driver market, especially from fabless-based companies, Renesas Technology, Sharp Corporation and Powerchip Semiconductor have established a joint venture specializing in drivers and controllers for small- and mid-size LCDs. Business operations related to these products will be transferred to the new company starting April 2008 for Renesas Technology, and by the end of fiscal 2008 for Sharp. The new company will begin full operations on April 1, 2008.