AUO Focuses on Solar Biz Development

Taipei, March 21, 2011 (CENS)--AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), the No. 2 maker of thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels in Taiwan, recently claimed that it will focus more on the development of green-energy products, aiming to achieve an annual production capacity of 1.3 GW (1 billion watt) of Photovoltaics (PV), or solar cells in 2013, compared to 500MW (million watt) this year.

According to James C.P. Chen, VP of AUO's Solar Business Group, AUO plans to appropriate some 10% to 15% of its NT$90 billion to NT$95 billion (US$3 billion to US$3.2 billion) capital spending for 2011 to further expand PV business.

AUO confirmed that there were some equipment problems emerging at its subsidiary M.Setek, a Japanese manufacturer of polysilicon, ingot and wafer, after the massive earthquake in Japan, but the factory building is safe.

M.Setek's major customer SunPower Corp., a maker of solar cells and panels, pointed out that only less than 10% of its raw materials come from domestic suppliers in Japan and the company would try to seek more new supply sources.

AUO has tied up with SunPower and the two parties jointly set up a solar-cell plant in Malaysia. The facility has completed its first-batch production of 100 solar panels with a minimum conversion efficiency of 22.2%. The Malaysian plant would be continuously constructed until 2013, when the annual capacity is expected to reach some 14 MW high-efficiency solar cells.

AUO's chairman K.Y. Lee said earlier that his company is scheduled to recruit about 3,000 new employees in Taiwan for its TFT-LCD and solar businesses, and set up a new solar-cell sales team in Europe this year.