Taiwan’s AU Optronics Corp. will join hands with two of its clients in mainland China to set up production plants on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, the company announced April 29.
In a bid to expand its capabilities in thin-film-transistor liquid crystal display TV assembly and strengthen its client base on the mainland, the panel maker will set up module plants with the Haier Group and TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd., the company said.
According to company Executive Vice President Paul Peng, these joint ventures are important outlets of AUO’s output, as they will account for 20 percent of all TV panels made by the company.
Haier, the mainland’s leading home appliance manufacturer, has been rated the most valuable brand across the strait for eight consecutive years. TCL, the mainland’s second largest TV producer, could deliver as many as 10 million TV sets in 2010, according to sources from inside the industry.
Including Changhong Electric Co. Ltd., AUO has already teamed up with three of the mainland’s six major TV makers. “This shows that the company is trying aggressively to reinforce its client relationships by way of strategic alliances,” the sources said.
Other than broadening its market share, AUO is also developing new technologies through collaboration with Japanese partners such as Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp., they added.
In related news, the company’s board of directors gave approval to a plan to issue US$800 million worth of euro convertible bonds for equipment purchases. The sources believed the money raised will be used to finance the building of the company’s 7.5G fabrication plant in Kuanshan, Jiangsu Province.
In addition to enhancing its presence on the mainland, AUO is ironing out expansion plans for the United States and the European Union, sources revealed.
The company has previously announced a joint venture of an LCD TV LCM plant in Poland with the mainland’s TPV Technology Ltd., sources noted. As TCL owns the RCA brand in the U.S. market and the Thomson brand in the EU market, the trio could join forces again in these markets in the future, they said. (SFC-HZW)