New Chi Mei 5G TFT-LCD factory opens in Tainan

Taiwan's second-largest manufacturer of the flat panels used in slim computer displays and televisions, Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美光電), opened a fifth-generation factory, or 5G fab, in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park (台南科學園區) in southern Taiwan yesterday, the company said in a statement.

Chi Mei follows larger rival AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) in Taiwan and competitors in South Korea into the 5G race, opening a fab that produces larger thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels more efficiently.

The latest 5G fabs allow flat-panel manufacturers to produce panels for LCD televisions.

Last month, research firm DisplaySearch predicted that by 2007 33 percent of TFT-LCD panels will be used for television compared to 31 percent for computer displays.

This year only 9 percent of panels are destined for use in TVs.

The plant is expected to produce 120,000 sheets of the mother glass from which panels are cut by next year, Chi Mei's chairman Hsu Wen-long (許文龍) said at yester-day's opening.

The new 5G panels measure 1.1m x 1.3m, from which a total of 12 17-inch, nine 19-inch or 20-inch, eight 22-inch or 23-inch, six 27-inch, or two 47-inch panels can be cut, the company said in a statement yesterday.

By the fourth quarter of the year, the new fab will begin the mass production of 17-inch and 27-inch panels, with 19-inch panels following in the first quarter of next year.