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Foxconn Launches CNY22bn LTPS LCD Panel Project in ChengduCHENGDU, Mar 05, 2012 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- A 6-generation LTPS (Low-Temperature Poly-Si) LCD panel production line project broke ground in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, in late February. The project, with a total investment of CNY22 billion, is scheduled to start operation in the third quarter of next year. The major investor is Tianyi Display Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd., but according to Zhang Yu, vice president of Chinese thin-film transistor-LCD (TFT-LCD) panel maker BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 000725), the actual initiator should be OEM giant Foxconn Technology Group. At the ground-breaking ceremony, Terry Gou, president of the Taiwan-based company, did attend as an important partner of the Chengdu-based one. However, Zhang Bing, market director of Displaysearch for the China region, believed that Chi Mei Corp., a sister company of Foxconn, should be the actual technology provider and shareholder. Actually, it is only a part of a CNY 600 billion production value increment goal Foxconn aims to achieve in the southwestern Chinese province before 2015. And in order to achieve the goal, it inked a contract to build a plant for iPads in the suburban area of Chengdu in July 2010 and a production base with an annual production capacity of 50 million smartphones with Sichuan Changhong Electron Group Corp. in Mianyang City last May. Yang Jun, a top executive responsible for capital management at the Sichuan-based group, said in an interview on March 1 that of the CNY 600 billion production value, 50 percent would be jointly completed by it and Foxconn. And besides a smartphone production base, they would establish a joint venture for tablet computers, LCD TVs and terminals for the convergence of telecom network, cable TV network and the Internet, each. In the 6-generation LTPS LCD panel production line project, it controlled a stake, too. Foxconn planned to build a 8.5-generation LCD panel production line in Chengdu with Changhong Electron Group as early as 2008. However, it failed to win a nod for the plan due to fierce competition finally. It thus put forward to building a LTPS LCD panel production line in the city last year and the plan gained approval from the provincial government of Sichuan and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in succession. And based on the world's premier LCD panel technology, the project will see products be mainly used for smartphones and tablet computers. Foxconn has a production base in Chongqing and the base mainly takes charge of orders from leading global PC maker HP. It began expanding production in Chengdu from 2011 and upon completion of the expansion, it will see production capacity of tablet computers there hit 100 million units per year. (USD 1 = CNY 6.31) Source: www.nf.nfdaily.cn (March 05, 2012) |