Dai Nippon Printing Co. and Asahi Glass Co. will set up a fifty-fifty joint venture in July to make and sell back plates used in plasma display panels, the companies said on 24 April this year.
The n…
Dai Nippon Printing Co. and Asahi Glass Co. will set up a fifty-fifty joint venture in July to make and sell back plates used in plasma display panels, the companies said on 24 April this year. The new company, the name of which is yet to be decided, will be capitalized at yen 3 billion, and will be headquartered in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan. At a yen10-billion plant within the site of Asahi“s Kitakyushu facility, the new firm plans to start production of PDP back plates in October 2002, with annual capacity estimated at 700,000 units. Sales for fiscal 2003 are projected at yen 15 billion. The joint venture hopes to produce high-quality, low-cost back plates for PDPs through integrating Asahi Glass“s technology for making the glass substrate with Dai Nippon“s technology for arranging dielectric and fluorescent substances efficiently on the substrate. Amid expectations of robust PDP demand around the world, the joint venture will aim to seize a 40% share of the world PDP back plate market, the two parent companies said.