Corning Inc, the world's largest maker of glass used in flat-panel displays for computers and TVs, said it will spend US$780 million to increase output in Asia this year and next, including a second factory in Taiwan.
The new plant will be built in Taichung, where AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation's largest flat-panel display maker, is also opening a factory, New York-based Corning said in a statement. Corning said last month that it had budgeted US$600 million for expansion in Asia by the end of next year.
As consumers buy new flat-panel computer monitors and TVs, a shortage of parts for screens contributed to panel price increases of as much as 45 percent last year, market researcher DisplaySearch said.
Demand for flat computer monitors will increase two-fifths this year, and more than double that for flat- panel TVs, DisplaySearch said.
"The flat-panel industry continues its remarkable growth and is forecast to reach revenues of US$95 billion by 2008 from US$42.7 billion in 2003," it said in a report this week.
Corning aims to double output by the end of next year and expects as much as a 50 percent rise in flat-panel display shipments a year, said Don McNaughton, a senior vice president in charge of flat-panel glass production at Corning.
Corning said last month that it is expanding its first factory, which is next door to Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
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