Local manufacturers of laser machines used to repair electronics such as LCD panels or drill into metal are expected to receive a boost later this year when a joint venture between Japan’s top laser machine maker and two Taiwanese electronics firms releases its first product.
With NT$666 million (US$22.12 million) in capital, Cyber Laser Taiwan Inc said it plans to commercialize its first laser machine as early as next quarter.
The Taiwan-Japan venture was established in 2011 at the Tainan Science Industrial Park by Japanese manufacturer Cyber Laser Inc and local counterparts Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) and Contrel Technology Co Ltd (東捷科技) to produce ultrafast laser machines.
“The laser machine business has high growth potential and we believe the market will expand to a considerable size in the long run,” Tongtai chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday during a press conference in Taipei.
Yen said Tongtai and Contrel had each developed several dozen laser machines that repair defects in LCD panels and can drill metal before forming Cyber Laser Taiwan with their Japanese partner.
In addition to panels, laser machines can be designed to fix a broad range of objects, such as semiconductors, and this versatility is a factor in the bright forecasts given for the industry.
Also bolstering the positive outlook are improving laser processing technologies that can be used to produce electronics that are increasingly being made on a nano-scale or smaller.
Providing another reason to be upbeat about the sector’s future, the 58-year-old Yen said that car makers can use laser machines to produce automobile engines with higher efficiency, adding that aside from the domestic market, Cyber Laser Taiwan is also looking to enter the markets in China and Japan.
Cyber Laser Inc holds a 33 percent stake in the joint venture and plans to outsource some of its production to the Greater Tainan-based unit to help lower the Japanese company’s operating costs and allow it to focus more on research and development, Cyber Laser president and chief executive officer Hitoshi Sekita said.
The Japanese firm also aims to diversify its client base to include more customers from the auto, aviation and bio-medical industries, as it bids to shift from selling only to makers of semiconductors or panels, he said.
Since Cyber Laser Taiwan just started operating, it is forecast to stay in the red until it reaches economies of scale within three years, Yen said.
According to US monthly magazine Laser Focus World, the global laser machine market is expected to grow 6.02 percent annually to US$9.33 billion this year, from the US$8.8 billion valuation it recorded last year, before expanding further to US$10.1 billion next year.
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