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AUO to invest NT$294bn in two new LCD plants

AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the world's third-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays (LCD), plans to invest NT$294 billion (US$9.3 billion) to build two factories to meet demand for large-sized LCD TVs, a government official said.

AUO will begin construction of one of the plants at its manufacturing site in Taichung at the end of the year, Yu Chih-shiang, a spokesman at the park, said by telephone yesterday.

The LCD maker didn't identify the size of the glass sheets it plans to cut from the new factories, Yu said.

AUO joins Samsung Electronics Co and LG.Philips LCD Co in making screens for TVs measuring 50 inches or larger diagonally.

LCD TVs may outsell plasma sets this year as they offer brighter picture quality and have become more affordable, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc analyst James Kim said.

The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that AUO will spend US$9.5 billion to build two 8.5-generation LCD factories. The more advanced plant would be able to handle larger sizes of glass used in displays for TVs.

However, AUO said yesterday that it had not decided whether to build 8.5G or more advanced facilities in Taichung or how much it would spend on the factories.

An 8.5G line costs about US$3 billion to build.
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