The 2008 Display Taiwan trade show, which will begin next Wednesday, will be the largest-ever flat-panel display exhibition in Taiwan, with 261 companies setting up more than 700 booths, the Taiwan External Trade and Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said yesterday.
The council, one of the organizers of the event, made the remarks at a press conference at Nangang Exhibition Hall, were it invited international buyers and media representatives attending the Computex Taipei trade show to stay in Taiwan for a few extra days to attend next week’s Display Taiwan.
For the first time this year, industry association Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International joined the Display Taiwan team to help make the flat-panel display exhibition the largest ever.
The TAITRA said this year’s show was expected to attract more than 35,000 visitors from home and abroad.
The show will feature Taiwan’s panel industry leaders, including AU Optronics (友達光電), Chi Mei Optoelectronics (奇美電子), Prime View International (元太科技), Chunghwa Picture Tubes (中華映管), Wintek (勝華), RiTdisplay (錸寶), Chi Mei El (奇晶光電), as well as top international flat-panel display makers such as JSR, Hitachi, Canon, 3M Corning, Nissan Chemical and AKT, TAITRA said.
Panel makers from 11 countries, including the US, Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Singapore, Japan and China, will be represented at the show.
South Korean manufacturers, under the leadership of the Korea Display Industry Association, have decided to replicate last year’s success and will have a South Korea Pavilion at the exhibition, TAITRA said.
TAITRA said Taiwan’s flat-panel display industry has high growth potential, with production value expected to surpass NT$1.8 trillion (US$59.3 billion) this year and NT$2 trillion by 2010, putting it among the top-three producing countries in Asia along with Japan and South Korea.
TAITRA executive vice president Walter Yeh (葉明水) said that Taiwan’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry had continued to gain momentum, adding that 18 Taiwanese companies appeared in Business Week’s list of the top 100 ICT businesses for the year, placing the country second in the world behind the US.
The organizers of the exhibition, which also include the Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association and the Taipei Computer Association, will hold a Display Taiwan 2008 Business and Technology Forum during the show.
Top executives from international industrial survey institutions and associations, including South Korea’s Displaybank, Japan’s Techno Systems Research and China’s TCL, have been invited to provide analysis of the latest trends and new technologies in the flat-panel display industry.
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