Nitto Denko to set up front-section polarizer plant in Central Taiwan

Taipei, July 21, 2004 (CENS)--Nitto Denko Corp. of Japan, the world's largest maker of polarizers, plans to set up a new front-section polarizer production plant in Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) in a bid to meet the increasing demand from local thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel makers.

Nitto Denko just started constructing a rear-section polarizer cutting plant in April this year on a four-hectare site in CTSP. The Japanese company has applied for another four-hectare site for the scheduled new plant in the park.

Facing a serious land shortage in the park, CTSP administration bureau said that it is actively preparing the second- and third-stage land lots by developing neighboring areas.

Nitto Denko plans to pour NT$2.24 billion (US$66.19 million at US$1: NT$33.9) into the under-construction polarizer plant in CTSP, which is scheduled to be completed for mass production by the end of the year and will supply products to AU Optronics Corp. (AUO)'s sixth-generation panel facility in the same park in the first quarter next year. Nitto Denko said that the cutting plant would have annual revenue of NT$10.6 billion (US$312.68 million) in the first operating year.

Nitto Denko was the first investor in the CTSP and it originally planned to set up only the cutting facility to meet the increasing demands from the expanded panel capacities of AUO and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO)'s new panel plants. Industry sources said that the Japanese polarizer maker's new project is expected to help the local TFT-LCD panel industry develop stronger competitiveness.

Industry sources said that the top-five makers of large-sized TFT-LCD panels in Taiwan are expected to invest over NT$1 trillion (US$29.5 billion) in the coming few years for their new-generation (5.5-, sixth-, seventh- and 7.5th-generation) panel business deployment, including AUO's projects to pour a total of NT$400 billion (US$11.8 billion) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd.'s NT$420 billion (US$12.39 billion) for mainly LCD TV panel production.

Nitto Denko currently accounts for 60% of the global polarizer supply, and the firm's polarizer business division is expected to have revenue of 198 billion yen in this fiscal year, up 42% from last year. The Japanese company currently also runs two integrated plants in Japan to produce such products from front to rear sections.