Chi Mei plans expenditure cuts for 2008

Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), Taiwan's leading flat-panel maker, said yesterday it was planning a NT$65 billion (US$2.01 billion) capital expenditure program for next year.

This was down sharply from an estimated NT$80 billion to be spent this year, a company official said.

The investment would be used to complete construction of two liquid-crystal-display (LCD) production sites for large TV screen manufacturing, the official said.

A LCD plant churning out products for 32-inch and 37-inch TV screens was under construction in Tainan and production was scheduled to begin mid-next year.

Another plant, also in Tainan, making products for 42-inch TV screens was expanding into a second phase of construction and scheduled to start production in the second quarter of next year.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted consolidated sales of NT$31.27 billion last month, 4.1 percent down from NT$32.61 billion in October.

Consolidated sales in the first 11 months of the year fell 0.6 percent year-on-year to NT$292.64 billion, it said.

At a conference for institutional investors on Oct. 25, TSMC said it expected consolidated sales in the fourth quarter to rise from NT$88.96 billion in the preceding three months to between NT$92 billion and NT$94 billion.