The US firm Corning, the TFT (thin film transistor) glass substrate giant, expects to inaugurate its two back-end glass processing lines in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park (TSIP) in Taiwan on…
The US firm Corning, the TFT (thin film transistor) glass substrate giant, expects to inaugurate its two back-end glass processing lines in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park (TSIP) in Taiwan on 10 May, executives of the firm said on 6 May this year. Corning“s two new back-end glass production lines in the TSIP are expected to be formally installed in the middle of this month. With a total investment of about US$ 80 million, the firm has decided to further expand the number of production lines to eight in the future. Corning expects to set up glass furnaces costing another US$ 70 million in 2002, executives of the firm said. Taiwanese TFT-LCD manufacturers have consistently suffered from a shortage of glass substrates, an important component in the manufacture of TFT-LCD panels, since they began the mass production of large-sized panels in 1999. Representatives from both Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. and Acer Display Technology Inc. rushed to foreign counterparts in order to ensure supply sources in this regard. In view of this, Corning was invited by the government to set up its first glass substrate plant in Taiwan. Th company has decided to conduct mass production only now because the demand for glass substrates from local TFT-LCD plants has become stable, executives of the firm added. Meanwhile, Asahi Glass Corp. of Japan is reportedly to invest in a glass substrate plant in Taiwan soon, thus meeting hectic demand in the future. Details are not yet available as yet, however.