German technology company Schott AG inaugurated a plant in central South Korea on 22 February 2007 that will make glass substrates for use in liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.
The USD 144 million …
German technology company Schott AG inaugurated a plant in central South Korea on 22 February 2007 that will make glass substrates for use in liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. The USD 144 million factory in Ochang, a town about 130 kilometers south of Seoul, will start mass production in August 2007, the company said in a statement. The plant, launched in cooperation with Japan“s Kuramoto Seisakusho Co., will supply LCD substrates mainly to major local flat panel manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co. and LG.Philips LCD Co., Schott said. The opening comes after a joint venture, Schott-Kuramoto Processing Korea, was formed in November 2005 as part of the two companies“ efforts to boost their presence in South Korea and in other Asian markets. Schott holds 75% of the shares and Kuramoto 25%. “This marks the single-largest investment Schott has made in Asia to date and is the company“s first manufacturing site in Korea”, the company said. Schott is a global tech company that produces not only glass products, but also various special electronics materials. About 19% of its annual turnover is in Asia. It plans to raise the ratio to 30% by 2010. In Asia, the company employs approximately 2,000 people at seven production locations in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Demand for glass substrates has been growing at a fast pace on the strong growth of the high-end flat panel TV market. A total of 40 million glass substrates were sold worldwide in 2006 for use in LCD TVs, twice as many as in the previous year, according to the company.