Flat-panel maker AUO Corp (友達) plans to retire an older, less competitive plant in Taoyuan, which produces panels used in notebook computers and monitors, to enhance the company’s operational efficiency, it said yesterday.
AUO plans to allocate manufacturing capacity at the factory, named the 5A Fab, in the city’s Longtan District (龍潭) to the company’s other plants, it said in a statement.
It is not shutting down the plant, but would better utilize the facility for new products and new technologies to cater to market demand, it said, adding that new technologies and products usually deliver better margins.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
The 5A Fab is a fifth-generation plant with an installed capacity of 62,000 units a month, AUO said.
The facility primarily produces notebook computers and monitor panels as well as some touch panels, it said.
Plant employees would be relocated to other manufacturing sites this year, it said.
The Hsinchu-based panel maker has been broadening its business beyond commodity panels used in TVs and PCs, diversifying into non-panel businesses to escape the “crystal cycle” of the past few years.
AUO is expanding into high-margin panels such as those used in vehicles, medical devices and industrial devices, it said.
The company also expanded into other sectors, such as solar power plant construction and water recycling solutions.
AUO’s non-panel businesses accounted for 10 percent of the company’s total revenue last year, it said.
Local peer Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday also said it did not rule out making similar changes.
Innolux would only allocate manufacturing capacity for the purpose of improving the company’s operational efficiency and sustainable growth, it said.
Such changes would only be pursued when the interests of its employees and stakeholders are ensured, it added.
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