Japan's Sharp Corp. said Monday that it had agreed to tie-up with a newly created Chinese company to produce liquid crystal display panels in Nanjing.

Sharp will provide its LCD production technology to Nanjing CEC-Panda LCD Technology Co. to help it set up the plant, which is scheduled to start operating by March 2011. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The new company is a joint venture between the Chinese city of Nanjing and Nanjing China Electronics Panda Group Corp.

Sharp has also agreed to jointly produce LCD panels for the Chinese market with the partners. It already assembles LCD TV sets at a plant in Nanjing.

The Japanese firm, which started out making belt buckles and pencils and has since become a leader in LCD televisions, is cutting jobs and streamlining in a bid to recover from its first ever year in the red.