Sharp Corp. is planning to join hands with Hewlett-Packard Co. over the copier business, providing some of its digital copiers to the U.S. computer giant for sale under its name, sources said Wednesday.

Sharp will also consider working with HP on toners and other supplies, they said.

The embattled firm had initially sought to establish a joint copier company with Samsung Electronics Co. but terminated talks and switched to seek a business tie-up with the U.S. firm amid strong opposition from other Japanese makers that feared its technology could leak to the South Korean competitor.