[Taiwan] Asahi Glass - Furnace Investment Project

To meet the foreseeable strong demand fuelled by aggressive capacity expansions by Taiwan's TFT-LCD panel makers, Asahi Glass Co of Japan, the world's second-largest supplier of glass substrates, plans to launch a new investment project in Taiwan. Asahi plans to locate its new glass furnace in Chiayi City, southern Taiwan and will buy a 40-hectare site in a new industrial zone of the city. Industry sources said that the panel market has begun to recover since the second quarter of 2009, thanks to strong demand from mainland China, which in turn was prompted by the Chinese government's subsidy programme applied to buyers of home appliances in rural areas and some cities.