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To: Spekulatius who wrote (37363)	4/7/2004 12:21:06 PM
From: - with a K	Respond to of 118717

AUO breaks ground on 7G LCD factory TOKYO, April 7 (Reuters) - Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp (Taiwan:2409.TW - News; NYSE:AUO - News) said on Wednesday it had started construction last month of a new factory to produce liquid crystal display panels from larger, seventh-generation glass. Construction could be completed in a year's time, David Su, vice president of the TV Display Unit at AU Optronics, told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry forum. There are no manufacturers making television panels yet from seventh-generation "motherglass". Japan's Sharp Corp (Tokyo:6753.T - News) was the first company to start production with smaller, sixth-generation panels in January. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KSE:005930.KS - News) and Sony Corp (Tokyo:6758.T - News) plan to jointly invest $2 billion to manufacture TV panels using seventh-generation glass, which is 1.87 by 2.2 metres. The venture will start producing LCD panels in the second quarter of 2005. Display manufacturers are moving to larger-sized glass to manufacture LCD television panels, because they can make more TVs from one piece of glass, allowing them to reduce fixed costs. "Generation seven is actually good for 40 inches and above. So if you are focused on a 30-inch range, then generation six actually is good enough," Su said. AU Optronics, the world's third largest display company, said it also planned to have a sixth-generation LCD panel factory up and running by the fourth quarter of 2004, earlier than it had anticipated. Both the sixth and seventh generation plant will be built in Taichung in central Taiwan. AU Optronics, which commands around 12 percent of the LCD panel market, said last year that it planned to invest T$200 billion ($6.1 billion) in new plants to meet the rapid growth in demand for large, flat-screen televisions. The potential flat-panel TV market is vast. LCD and plasma display panel TVs account for only two percent of all existing sets, but their hefty price tag still holds back demand. Shipments of flat TV displays, a business AU entered late last year, are expected to make up around a fifth of the company's revenues this year versus about five percent last year, analysts have said. (US$=T$32.87)