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Corning eyes 4 cities for LCD glass
plant
BEIJING - Leading US
glass manufacturer Corning Incorporated is
considering investing in the Chinese mainland to
produce special glass substrates used in the
production of liquid crystal displays (LCD).
"The
project, if launched, will reach a similar
investment scale to those in Taiwan and South
Korea," Nitin Kulkarni, president of Display Technologies
of Corning China, said on Monday.
More than US$1 billion was spent on plants in
Taiwan and South Korea, Kulkarni said.
Corning vice chairman and chief financial
officer James Flaws says the company has planned
to spend US$1.2 billion to $1.4 billion on this
year's projects, with 75% going to LCD projects.
In the past two years, Corning has put combined
funds of about $1.86 billion in Japan and Taiwan
to set up plants for producing the glass
substrates.
LCD glass is used in LCD
television sets, notebook computers, flat panel
desktop monitors and portable electronic and
communications devices. "We are making a survey to
study market conditions in the Chinese mainland
and will then decide the investment scale,"
KulKarni said. "Corning is discussing actively
with the central and local governments about the
project. We are seeking policy support from the
Chinese side since it is a heavily-invested
project." Kulkarni said Shanghai is one of four
possible locations for the project. He refused to
reveal the other three possibilities.
"We
hope the project will be finalized at the end of
this year," said Clark Kinlin, chief executive
officer of Corning China. Corning insiders said
the investment plan is part of its expansion
strategy in the Asian market over the next few
years. Kinlin said China had a lot of potential in
the sector, although it now only consumes a very
small share of global sales. In preparation for
its investment plans, Corning has set up the
Corning China Ltd Office to support the emerging
China market. "We are full of confidence in the
China market, which is growing fast in terms of
LCDs," he said.
Kinlin said the global
market will witness a growth rate of 40% in LCDs
this year, which should remain at the same annual
rate until 2007. But he said the China market is
expected to have a bigger growth rate than the
average global rate. Global sales of LCD TV sets
in 2004 took up only 5% of all TV set sales.
Corning believes the percentage will rise to 10 in
2005 and 21 in 2007. "The fact that more Chinese
families are interested in LCD TV sets will be a
strong stimulus to the growing demand for glass
substrates," Kulkarni said. At present, global
demand is 75 million square feet, which should
jump to 500 million square feet by 2007, Corning
predicts.
(Asia
Pulse/XIC) |
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