Amtran Technology Co (瑞軒科技), which makes LCD TVs for North America television brand Vizio Inc and other companies, yesterday denied it was in talks with South Korean panel maker LG Display Co to sell its plant in Suzhou, China.
The Taipei-based TV maker said that the memorandum of understanding it signed with LG Display last month was aimed at exploring new markets and to develop high-end TV models, such as LED TVs, company spokesman Scotti Chiu (邱裕平) said by telephone.
However, selling the Suzhou plant “is not on our agenda at the moment,” Chiu said.
LG Display and Amtran established Suzhou Raken Technology Ltd (樂軒), an LCD TV assembly venture, in China about two years ago.
Chiu’s comments came after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that Amtran aggressively divested component inventories before selling its Suzhou television assembling subsidiary to LG Display, citing unspecified sources.
Amtran has lagged behind global rivals in offering LED TVs because of an insufficient supply of LED panels in the first half of the year caused by an LED chip shortage.
“The supply constraint eased [last month],” Chiu said.
LED TVs are expected to make up 20 percent of its overall LCD TV shipments this year, Chiu said.
Early this year, the company said it aimed to double LCD TV shipments this year to 8 million flat-panel TVs from last year’s 4 million units.
However, Chinese labor shortage and component supply constraints decreased the company’s shipments to about 740,000 units in the first quarter.
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