Five Taiwanese companies, including the nation's second-largest flat-panel maker Chi Mei Optoelec-tronics Corp (奇美電子), yesterday formed an alliance to develop flexible crystal display technologies.
Apart from the computer and TV markets, "Chi Mei has also made significant progress in tapping into some niche markets such as medical care. And we hope to explore more opportunities [for future growth]," said Kuo Cheng-lung (郭振隆), a vice president of Chi Mei.
Flexible crystal displays, which need only one-tenth of the investment needed for building a TFT-LCD plant, may replace flat panels used in outdoor advertisement boards, or radio frequency identification (RFID) devices in the future, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) said.
Flexible crystal displays, which are slim and elastic, are mostly used as a substitute for papers in making books, it said.
Chi Mei and parent company Chi Mei Corp's (
The alliance said it planned to come up with a prototype product by next year and start commercial production by 2008.
ITRI would also give technological support to the firms.
"We hope the flexible crystal display industry will be a new driving force, fueling the next wave of growth for Taiwanese firms following in the footsteps of the flat-panel display industry," ITRI researcher Jack Ho (侯維新) said.
Taiwan's flat panel makers are expected to post 30 percent annual growth to total NT$925 billion (US$28.6 billion) in sales this year, making Taiwan the biggest exporter of computers and TV panels, according to ITRI's forecast.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) also has a special team evaluating the feasibility of investing in flexible display technologies.
Prime View International Co (
Chunghwa Picture and Prime View have not joined the alliance.
In related developments, thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display (TFT-LCD) output this year was expected to hit a record high on rising international demand, the Industrial Development Bureau said yesterday.
Output of TFT-LCDs for this year was to reach NT$1.28 trillion, up 31.7 percent from NT$972 billion a year earlier.
"The increase is mainly driven by demand for large-sized panels in the international market. We even predict total output will rise to NT$2 trillion in 2015," an official from the bureau said.
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