SAKAI, Japan Aug 30 (Reuters) - Hon Hai Precision Industry and Sharp Corp may spend more than 100 billion yen ($1.27 billion) to raise the capacity at their joint TV panel factory in Sakai, western Japan, from as early as January 2013, a senior executive of the Taiwanese company said on Thursday.

The two companies are considering raising production capacity at the plant to as much as to 120,000 liquid crystal display (LCD) sheets per month from 72,000 now, said C.C. Lin, Hon Hai's most senior official in charge of the Sakai plant.

One LCD sheet can be cut into eight 60-inch TV panels.