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Corning plans Taiwanese plant as part of US$780 million expansion

Corning Inc, the world's largest maker of glass used in flat-panel displays for computers and TVs, said it will spend US$780 million to increase output in Asia this year and next, including a second factory in Taiwan.

The new plant will be built in Taichung, where AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation's largest flat-panel display maker, is also opening a factory, New York-based Corning said in a statement. Corning said last month that it had budgeted US$600 million for expansion in Asia by the end of next year.

As consumers buy new flat-panel computer monitors and TVs, a shortage of parts for screens contributed to panel price increases of as much as 45 percent last year, market researcher DisplaySearch said.

Demand for flat computer monitors will increase two-fifths this year, and more than double that for flat- panel TVs, DisplaySearch said.

"The flat-panel industry continues its remarkable growth and is forecast to reach revenues of US$95 billion by 2008 from US$42.7 billion in 2003," it said in a report this week.

Corning aims to double output by the end of next year and expects as much as a 50 percent rise in flat-panel display shipments a year, said Don McNaughton, a senior vice president in charge of flat-panel glass production at Corning.

Corning said last month that it is expanding its first factory, which is next door to Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子). AU Optronics is doubling capital spending this year to NT$85 billion (US$2.6 billion).
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