Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s biggest LCD panel maker, is requesting more land to build a new next-generation plant in Taiwan, paving the way for passage of its China investment plan.
Taiwanese flat-panel makers will only be allowed to build new plants in China, one of the world’s fastest-growing LCD TV markets, after proposing new investment plans at home as the government attempts to secure the nation’s technological advantages and minimize job reductions because of plant allocation to China.
“Chimei Innolux is requesting land in the north [of the nation],” said Woody Duh (杜紫軍), director-general of the Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, by telephone yesterday, confirming a report by local Chinese-language newspaper the Economic Daily News.
Duh declined to comment on whether Chimei Innolux planned to build a next-generation plant, such as a 10-generation (10G) plant, to produce large TV panels of 52 inches or more.
“Like most panel makers, Chimei Innolux is looking for new land to support its new business plans, or investments in Taiwan during the next three years to five years,” a source said. “It is studying [building] new next-generation plants.”
Chimei Innolux has not submitted a China-bound investment plan yet. However, company chief executive Tuan Hsing-chien (段行建) told reporters on March 18 that Chimei Innolux would not be “absent” from the Chinese market. The company has set up a special task force to map out a plan, he said.
In the middle of last month, AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) has taken the lead in submitting a proposal to the Investment Commission to invest US$3 billion in building a 7.5G in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province.
At home, the firm operates an 8.5G production line and is building a second one in central Taiwan, which would cost the company NT$300 billion (US$9.45 billion).
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