Tatung Wins LCD TV Contract Orders From Hitachi, JVC

Taipei, Oct. 25, 2005 (CENS)--Taiwan's Tatung Co., a leading information technology (IT), electrical machinery, and home appliance maker, won contract orders for LCD TVs from Hitachi and JVC of Japan at the 2005 FPD International show, held Oct.19-21 in Yokohama, Japan, according to Tatung's upstream parts suppliers.

Tatung will be the first Taiwan contract maker to supply LCD TVs 32 inches and larger to Japanese brands. The company estimated that its shipment of LCD and plasma display panel (PDP) TVs would reach 500,000 units this year.

Industry sources said Tatung president W.S. Lin visited several important customers in Japan during the FPD International 2005 and won the contract orders. Hitachi contracted Tatung to supply 26-, 32- and 37-inch LCD TVs, which are expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter this year. This indicates a major change, since in the past major Japanese brands placed contract orders only for LCD TVs 20 inches and smaller. In addition, Tatung also agreed to become an important contract supplier of 42-inch PDP TVs to Hitachi, and the cooperation tie is expected to expand into models 50 inches or greater in the future.

Currently, Tatung runs production plants in Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Thailand and mainland China (in Wujiang, Jiangsu Province). The company's advantageous global logistics and close-to-market shipment capabilities reportedly enabled it to win the Japanese companies' contract orders.

Reports also state that JVC has released contract orders for 17- and 23-inch LCD TVs to Tatung, and the Japanese company reportedly plans to also place orders for 37- and 40-inch models with the Taiwanese partner in the future.

Tatung's Lin refused to comment on the new contract orders, but said that Tatung's subsidiary, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd. (CPT), the No. 3 thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel maker in Taiwan, has successfully developed a 65-inch rear-projection LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) TV model, the largest that can be commercialized in Taiwan. He stressed that large-sized rear-projection TVs have strong potential in the North American, European, and mainland Chinese markets.

Lin added that Tatung would seek powerful strategic partners to cooperate with in the joint development of the LCOS TV business in order to build products that have strong picture-quality and cost advantages over similar-sized counterparts.

At the FPD International 2005, CPT demonstrated 13 of its latest technical achievements in six product categories, three of which it plans to commercialize next year. Among them are the company's MOVIE technology, low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) TFT-LCD panels, and LCOS TVs.

According to CPT, its MOVIE technology combines three of its most advanced techniques, including Multi-gap technology (which can compensate for RGB color shift and improve 45-degree angle viewing), wide-viewing-angle technology (which gives better image quality, wider viewing angle, higher brightness, lower color shift and faster response time), and video image enhancement technology (which unites three techniques to improve display quality). The response time of monitors with the MOVIE technology is 4 mili-seconds, display quality approaches that of cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors, and contrast ratio can reach 600:1.