AUO, Qisda to Set Up LCD-TV Assembly Venture by Year-end

Taipei, Oct. 3, 2008 (CENS)--AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), the largest thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel manufacturer in Taiwan, and its affiliated Qisda Corp., the former manufacturing division of BenQ Corp., recently announced plans to set up a LCD TV assembly joint venture.

The new venture will be capitalized at NT$200 million (US$6.25 million at US$1: NT$32), in which AUO will have a 60% stake and Qisda 40%.

An increasing number of TFT-LCD panel suppliers have begun downstream integration of system assembly, including a LCD TV assembly joint venture between LG Display (formerly LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd.) of South Korea and Taiwan-based LCD monitor/TV assembler AmTRAN Technology, Co. Ltd. in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province of mainland China.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO), the second-largest TFT-LCD panel maker in Taiwan, also tied up with TPV Technology Ltd., the world's largest monitor maker, and plans to set up LCD-TV assembly facilities in Hubei Province and Sichuan Province of China.

AUO also has announced plans to set up a subsidiary in China to sell LCD TV panels across the Taiwan Strait.

Qisda was spun off from BenQ in September 2007 and has been focusing on LCD TV contract manufacturing. But the company recognized the LCD panel accounts for a very high ratio of the overall cost of a LCD TV and most big-brand home-appliance customers require total solutions rather than only assembly services.

In addition to offering total solutions to customers, AUO said that the new venture is also expected to further upgrade AUO's competitiveness in LCD TV business.

The new venture would be formally established by the end of the year, AUO said, and would provide LCD TV integrated design, production, and logistic services, so as to meet customers' requirements for rapid market responses and low inventories.

Qisda claimed that it would keep a specialized business-TV and electronic R&D team in-house and focus on higher value-added product lines such as business TV and electronic signage board etc., in addition to continue developing dual-function LCD TV monitor products.

The BenQ-AUO Group currently employs over 90,000 people worldwide and scored revenue of over US$22 billion in 2007.