Major Players Expand Light-Guide Plate Production Capacity

Taipei, Aug. 5, 2010 (CENS)--At least two major players in Taiwan are planning to expand production capacity for light-guide plates, a key part used in edge-lighting light-emitting diode (LED) backlight modules for thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels.

The two companies are Forhouse Corp. and Entire Technology Co., Ltd. The former has decided to pour hundreds of millions of New Taiwan dollars to purchase new light-guild plate production lines so as to expand such capacity by 30% by the end of 2011. The latter also plans to invest more than NT$600 million (US$18.75 million) in capacity expansion.

The edge-lighting light-guide plates has become growingly important because of its key role in reducing LCD TV's thickness and enlarging panel sizes to achieve reasonable cost level.

Among major local suppliers of light-guide plates are Chi Mei Corp. and Forhouse. With an eye on the lucrative business, Entire Technology also moved to produce such product in the second quarter this year.

After completing capacity expansion in the first half, Entire now owns 16 light-guide production lines, including 12 for light diffusers, two for light-guide panels, and two IMF (in-mold forming) lines.

After successfully developing the micro-structure diffusers, Entire has also successfully pushed micro-structure light-guide plates that have been sent to some customers as product samples for certification in late second quarter.