Chi Mei ramps up LCD production

23 Jun 2005

Taiwanese manufacturer announces aggressive expansion plans.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), a leading Taiwanese maker of LCD displays, is planning to triple its production capacity in the next two years in order to keep up with soaring demand for flat-panel displays (FPDs).

LCD HDTV

The expansion plans consist of scaling up one existing plant and setting up two new facilities. Capacity at CMO’s existing Generation 5.5 plant is being ramped up to 180,000 units per month by December 2006 from the existing 120,000 pieces at a cost of about $638 million.

The company is setting up a new G5 line at an investment of about $1.11 billion, using 1100 x 1300mm glass substrates, with a capacity of about 90,000 pieces per month. Construction will begin this year, with mass production slated to commence in the last quarter of next year.

A G7.5 fab that will use 1950 x 2250 glass substrate is also being set up. First phase production will be about 30,000 pieces per month, and mass production will begin about 6 months after the new G5 line starts volume production.

These new fabs reflect a focus on larger-sized panels for TVs and computer monitors, following CMO’s sale of its International Display Technology (IDTech) unit (formerly IBM’s LCD products division) to Sony earlier this year.

At the FPD-Taiwan show which took place in Taipei earlier this month, CMO was demonstrating its latest LCD screens including a 42-inch high-definition TV (see above) that boasts improved wide angle viewing of colors.

Author
Manoj Aravindakshan is Director of On Target Media, a Singapore-based provider of technology news.