Taiwan Tackles Shortfall Of Glass Substrate

Asahi Glass is planning expansion in Taiwan to meet rising flat-panel demand. The Japanese firm is considering establishing plants by renting the entire Yunlin base of the Central Taiwan Science Park, a total of 97 hectares. With the expansion, Asahi hopes to boost its global market share to around 45% - behind US-based Corning with 50%. The company expects TFT-LCD panel supply to fall short of demand in the third quarter of this year and predicts Taiwan may surpass South Korea to become the world's largest supplier in the same quarter. Corning estimates that the overall supply of glass substrate currently falls short of demand by 20-30%. As a result, Taiwan TFT-LCD makers expect higher glass substrate costs this quarter.