CMO, Delta to Set Up Mercury-free Backlight Venture

Taipei, March 9, 2006 (CENS)--Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO), Taiwan' s No. 2 maker of large-sized thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, and Delta Electronics Inc., a leading EMS (electronics manufacturing services) company, are reportedly to set up a joint venture to produce mercury-free flat backlight panels.

Last year, the booming LCD TV market resulted in a supply shortage of cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) tubes, a key component in the backlight module. To assure an ample supply of such key parts, most local TFT-LCD panel makers are also devoted to the production of CCFL or the development of some substitutable backlighting sources such as light-emitting diode (LED) and flat fluorescent lamp (FFL) backlight units (BLUs).

Industry sources pointed out that Delta's self-developed mercury-free flat BLUs are ready for mass production, and the trial-production line for such product is installed at a plant of Delta Optoelectronic Inc., a reinvested subsidiary devoted to the production of organic light-emit diode (OLED) panels.

Bruce Cheng, Delta chairman, claimed earlier that his company was seeking some outside partners to jointly develop mercury-free BLU business, and the project would be soon finalized.

In a bid to secure stable supply of CCFL tubes, CMO has also invested in GIO Optoelectronics Corp., which currently owns three CCFL production lines with a total maximum monthly capacity of 1.5 million such tubes for mainly LCD TV panels. GIO is scheduled to expand its production lines to eight by the end of the second quarter, bringing its total monthly capacity to about four million units.

In addition, GIO will kick off the construction of its second CCFL plant in the LCD TV special zone of the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) this month and is scheduled for equipment installation in the fourth quarter.

To counter tight supply last year, most major CCFL makers in Japan and South Korea began actively expanding their capacities late last year, such as Harison Toshiba, Sanken etc., while all of them targeted at CCFL tubes for TV panels.

DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in flat panel display (FPD) market research and consulting, pointed out that the active capacity-expansion projects by Japanese suppliers have effectively filled the supply vacancy of TV-panel CCFLs, while the supply of notebook PC and monitor CCFL tubes remains ample.

Global CCFL Suppliers' Market Share (2006)
Company	Q1 2006	Q2	Q3	Q4
Harison Toshiba	16.4%	15.4%	14.2%	14.5%
Sanken	12.9%	12.2%	13.3%	13.6%
Matsushita	14.1%	14.0%	13.6%	13.9%
Stanley	4.9%	4.8%	4.3%	3.8%
NEC	11.8%	11.9%	11.3%	10.4%
Kumho	8.7%	8.5%	8.1%	7.6%
Heesung	6.8%	6.8%	6.4%	6.1%
Wooree ETI	6.1%	6.8%	6.4%	6.1%
Wellypower	10.2%	10.5%	10.4%	10.1%
Delta	4.1%	4.9%	7.3%	6.8%
GIO	1.5%	2.0%	2.3%	5.1%
Sintronic	1.1%	1.0%	1.0%	0.9%
Top-5' Share	62.4%	60.6%	59.6%	59.7%
Source: DisplaySearch