Flat-panel TVs will achieve a worldwide take-up of 25% by 2007 as CRT-based models decline to 69% of 207 million units, Corning COO Peter Volanakis said 10 May 2005 at the CIBC Communications & Techno…
Flat-panel TVs will achieve a worldwide take-up of 25% by 2007 as CRT-based models decline to 69% of 207 million units, Corning COO Peter Volanakis said 10 May 2005 at the CIBC Communications & Technology Conference in New York City. Volanakis said LCD TVs will take 21% of the market in 2007 (mainly in sizes 40″ and under), while plasma will take 5%, mainly in the larger sets. CRT-based TV had a 90% share of a 177-million unit market in 2004 against a combined 7% for flat-panel sets, a figure that is expected to grow to 10% by the end of 2005, said Volanakis. The average screen size for flat-panel TVs is expected to increase to 27″ by 2007 from 20″, he said. Volanakis said that Corning expects to open a USD 325 million 5.5/6th-generation factory in Taichung, Taiwan, by July 2005 that will effectively increase its substrate capacity by 50%. In addition, Corning has pocketed new 5-year LCD glass supply agreements worth USD 1 billion with five Taiwanese manufacturers: AU Optronics, Chi Mei Optoelectronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Hannstar and Innolux. An initial USD 200 million payment was made in 2004 with another USD 450 million due in 2005 and the rest in 2006, CFO James Flaws said. Corning“s LCD glass joint venture with Samsung is a supplier to the new Samsung-Sony 7G plant in South Korea that came on stream in April 2005. It has also been talking to Sharp, which plans to start 8G manufacturing in October 2006, Volanakis said. While no agreement has been reached with Sharp, “the feeling on both sides” is that Corning will be a “significant” and perhaps “the player” for 8G production, Volanakis said. Corning is the only manufacturer of 6G glass substrates but competitor Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) is “improving in capability,” Volanakis said. There may be room for further expansion beyond 8G (2.1 x 2.4 meter) glass substrates, but production of 3 meter panels could be limited by the ability to transport them, Volanakis said. As flat-panel displays increase their market share, Corning“s CRT joint venture with Samsung is gradually moving glass production to China, where the companies opened a plant in 2004, Flaws said. The companies may eventually close one of 2 plants in Korea but continue others in Malaysia and Germany, he said. In 2004, Corning closed down its 36-year-old CRT glass factory in State College, Pennsylvania, selling the manufacturing equipment to a Chinese tube manufacturer and the plant itself to a property developer. Despite the decline of the CRT glass business in recent years, it “hasn“t eroded as quickly as we thought,” Flaws said.