Teco, UMC and Hisense jointly develop LCOS rear-projection TVs

Taipei, March 12, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan's Teco Group recently demonstrated a 52-inch liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) rear-projection TV jointly developed with United Microelectronic Corp. (UMC) of Taiwan and Hisense Co., Ltd. Of mainland China.

Teco is responsible for the development of LCOS substrates; TSMC silicon wafer production and assembly; and Hisense for mold and die development and assembly. The alliance controls several key technologies, enabling it to cut costs.

Home appliance makers in Taiwan and mainland China have been striving to break the technological domination of Japanese and South Korean companies in both cathode-ray tube (CRT) and plasma display panel (PDP) TV sectors.

Teco's newly demonstrated LCOS rear-projection TV model is priced at under NT$100,000 (US$2,890 at US$1:NT$34.6) and will be sold both in Taiwan and overseas from July. Teco officials said that the company would first export the LCOS TVs to the U.S., Europe and mainland China. All exports will be shipped from mainland China. Teco expects to sell over 1,000 such LCOS TVs in Taiwan this year.

Teco home appliance division CEO Wu Ting-hung claimed that the new LCOS TV adopts UMC-made second-generation LCOS rear-projection chips, which are low in cost, deliver high brightness and color rendering, and can reduce the thickness of the TVs to only 15 centimeters from 25 centimeters before. Such traits have made the new LCOS TV model competitive with PDP counterparts, Wu said.

Some local home appliance makers are also actively pushing their LCOS rear-projection TV products, including Kolin Co. and Taiwan Sanyo. Kolin currently cooperates with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC), Taiwan's largest contract wafer producer, and is scheduled to demonstrate the first batch of 50-inch LCOS rear-projection TV models in June. Kolin claimed that its new model would have the same resolution as that of the high-definition TV (HDTV) counterparts and first target the U.S., Europe and Asia markets.

Taiwan Sanyo, a local subsidiary of Sanyo Japan, cooperates with UMC to develop LCOS TV products. Taiwan Sanyo plans to begin mass production and marketing of its 43-inch and 53-inch LCOS TVs by the third quarter. It claims that the prices of its LCOS TVs would be less than half the price of comparable PDP models. Sanyo Taiwan also plans to export the new TVs to Japan.