Merck to build LCD plant in Taiwan

German liquid crystal manufacturer Merck KgaA will spend NT$900 million (US$26.8 million) to build a plant in Taiwan to supply local screen makers, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the new plant in Taoyuan County is scheduled for June 25, the paper said.

The plant will help reduce production costs for Taiwan's five flat-panel display makers, including industry leaders AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), which previously had to import the materials, the report said.

Taiwan's top five makers of thin-film-transistor liquid crystal display panels are expected to generate combined revenues of more than NT$500 billion this year, the newspaper said. Their demand for liquid crystal materials is estimated at NT$11 billion.

Merck, the world's biggest supplier of materials used in making liquid crystal displays, said Monday it would expand Asian liquid crystal production as demand increases until at least 2008.

The German company controls about 60 percent of the world's liquid crystals materials market, while Japanese rivals Chisso and Dainippon Inc hold the rest.

Merck will spend 30 million euros (US$36 million) this year to increase output in Japan and South Korea and to build a new plant in Taiwan, the company said in a release on its Web site on Monday.