In late 2007 Sharp launched construction in the Japanese city of Sakai on the world's most modern LCD factory. The new production facility, located in the vicinity of Osaka, was the first of the so-called tenth generation plants capable of producing LCD mother glass in sizes of up to nine square meters (2,880 x 3,130 mm). That mother glass is 60 percent bigger than anything capable of being produced at Kameyama II, Sharp's current (eighth-generation) LCD factory. Each mother glass from the new plant can be finished into six 60 inch or eight 50 inch LCD panels, as well as into panels of 82 or 108 inches in size. Sakai is also involved in the production of thin film solar cells – with a production capacity of 1,000 megawatts (1 Gigawatt) per year. Sakai will launch into production of the next generation LCD TVs in October 2009.