CPT to inaugurate LCM plant in Shenzhen in September

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 18, 2006. It reports that Chunghwa Picture Tubs, Ltd., Taiwan's No.3 maker of TFT-LCD panels will start mass production at its new rear-section LCD module (LCM) plant in Shenzhen in China's Guangdong Provinde in September 2006. The plant's monthly production capacity is set at 100,000 LCMs. It is expected to become the company's largest LCD TV panel-module production base in China.

According to Chunghwa Picture Tubes, its plant in Shenzhen will focus on the production of 32-, 37- and larger LCD TV panels. It is also aggressively developing 42- and 47-inch products. In March 2006, the company shipped about 80,000 32-inch TV panels to customers in Taiwan, China, Europe and South Korea. This monthly volume is expected to reach 100,000 units in April 2006.

Statistics show that in 2005, about 1.53 million LCD TVs were sold in China. The volume is expected to increase to about 4.58 million units in 2006, and about 9.5 million units in 2007.

At present, most of China's major LCD TV makers have manufacturing plants in Shenzhen. All of Taiwan's TFT-LCD panel suppliers also have or are planning to set up LCM plants in China, in order to facilitate direct panel shipments to Chinese customers. For example, AU Optoelectronics Corp., Taiwan's largest maker of TFT-LCD panels, has set up a plant in Xiamen in Fujian Province. Chi Mei Optoelectronics, Taiwan's second-largest manufacturer in the line, will soon begin operations in its plant in Foshan, Guangdong Province. Even South Korea's LG Philips LCD Co., Ltd., the world's No.2 panel maker, is planning to build a LCM plant in southern China.