Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管), the country’s third-biggest maker of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, intends to build two new plants in the next three to five years on the back of a new up-cycle in the industry, a company executive said yesterday.
Chunghwa Picture’s move dovetailed with the industry’s recent buildup of new capacity through new next-generation plants.
Last week, AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s biggest LCD panel supplier, said it would spend NT$100 billion (US$3.29 billion) on building a new plant, which is scheduled to begin production in 2011. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) said it was scouting sites for a next-generation plant to make large-size TV screens.
“LCD panel companies are increasingly building next-generation plants,” Jason Huang (黃騰威), an executive at the company’s public relation division, quoted chief financial executive James Wu (巫俊毅) as saying.
“It is the company’s goal to build two new plants in the next three to five years,” Huang said.
Chunghwa Picture is considering building a sixth-generation or an 8.5-generation plant in Taichung to make LCD panels for computers and TVs, Huang said.
As the company is still looking for partners to build the first new plant, it has yet to establish a timetable, Huang said.
“Chunghwa Picture’s spending plan for this year remains unchanged,” Huang said. The firm intends to spend NT$15.9 billion on new equipment this year.
“We favor LCD TV vendors, or LCD manufacturers on contract basis, for our partners,” he said.
Yang Wen-ke (楊文科), administrative director-general of Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學工業園區), said however that Chunghwa Picture had told the science park that it needed a plot of land to build a new plant in the first quarter of next year.
“Land is becoming crucial for local LCD panel makers seeking to build new plants to maintain their competitiveness,” Yang said.
The administration of the science park is preparing a 60 hectare plot of land for the company, Yang said.
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