LCD panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) yesterday said its board had approved a proposal to form a TV assembling joint venture with TPV Technology Ltd (冠捷) to expand its presence in Europe.
The strategic alliance will be part of AU Optronics’ efforts to stave off competition from strong rival Chi Mei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), which will replace AU Optronics as the nation’s top flat-panel maker after wrapping up a three-way merger between Innolux Display Corp (群創光電), Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp and TPO Display Corp (統寶光電) next week.
“The cooperation with TPV will help boost AU Optronics’ competitiveness to compete with Chimei Innolux, which is strong in assembling TV sets with the help of its parent company Hon Hai Precision Industrial Cot Ltd (鴻海精密),” Roger Yu (游智超), a flat-panel analyst with Polaris Securities Co (寶來證券), said by telephone yesterday.
AU Optronics and TPV planned to invest an initial US$40 million in forming BriVictory Display Technology (Labuan) Co (冠智顯示器科技), an LCD module and TV set assembly company in Gorzow, Poland, a joint statement released yesterday said.
“We hope to strengthen our expansion in Europe via this new business model,” AU Optronics spokesperson Hsiao Ya-wen (蕭雅文) said.
The new company is scheduled to start production in the third quarter of this year, she said.
The new plant will be AU Optronics’ third module plant after establishing manufacturing sites in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Separately, the company’s board also approved another proposal to invest an additional US$10 million in BriView Electronics Corp (景智光電).
BriView, which AU Optronics acquired from local electronics maker Qisda Corp (佳世達) last year, makes TVs for other companies such as Chinese TV maker Haier Group (海爾).
AU Optronics estimated that BriView shipped 1 million units last year.
In addition to BriView, AU Optronics also operates a TV assembly venture with Changchong Electric Co (長虹) in Sichuan Province, China, with an initial capacity of 3 million units a year.
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