Neo-Neon to Float TDRs to Fund LED Epi Wafer Factory in China

Taipei, Dec. 3, 2009 (CENS)---Neo-Neon Holdings Co., which is reportedly the world's No.1 supplier of decorative lightings, will float Taiwan depository receipts (TDRs) to raise around US$50 million to finance construction of its first light emitting diode (LED) epitaxy-wafer factory in mainland China.

The issuance will make it the first overseas Taiwanese LED-lighting manufacturer to float TDRs. Neo-Neon is headquartered in Guangdong and made initial public offering in Hong Kong in 2006.

The company plans to build an epi-wafer factory in Yangzhou of mainland China to make LED chips for its lamps. The factory is designed to operate 30 metal organic chemical vapor deposit chambers.

According to the company's chairman, B.C. Fan, Neo-Neon wants to construct the factory in order to ensure sufficient supply of LED chips for its lighting equipment, as global supplies of the chips are expected to run short in 2010 as a result of excessive demands by backlight makers.

The facility, once completed, will put a final touch on Neo-Neon's plan to set up integrated manufacturing capability for its LED lighting, which now is being supported by its in-house LED-packaging lines and lighting fixture lines.

Neo-Neon's aggressive LED manufacturing scheme has convinced a venture capital fund owned by the Tsinghua University to hold a 12% stake in the company, becoming its foremost shareholder.

Fan reported his company has secured contracts to supply a total of 100,000 LED streetlights throughout the mainland. The company has opened 21 offices throughout the mainland as distribution footholds.

Fan said the mainland's LED-lighting market would see explosive growth once the mainland's LED lighting standard is enacted. He added that Expo 2010 Shanghai China, cityscape beautification projects and an aggressive government-backed LED streetlight project would significantly boost the mainland's LED lighting market in 2010.

Overseas, the company's LED lighting products have hit Home Depot stores.