Corning to expand its LCD glass capacity

Nov. 5, 2002 – Corning, NY – In 1Q03, Corning Inc. will begin a major expansion project at its Taiwan manufacturing facility in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park. This new investment in capacity will add melting and forming lines to make the plant a fully integrated LCD glass manufacturing facility.

The melting operation is expected to produce large generation glass (larger sheets) by early 2004, to supply the growing number of customers installing large generation LCD fabs (fabrications lines).

“Demand for our glass continues to be driven by market acceptance for flat panel desktop monitors, as well as purchases of notebook computers and the increasing penetration of LCD-TV,” Corning vice chairman and CFO James B. Flaws said. “Desktop monitor sales have grown more than 70% over the last year alone, fueled mainly by consumers upgrading their monitors from CRTs to LCDs. In fact, the market penetration for LCD monitors is still only around 25 percent of total desktop monitors sold.”

Corning built the Taiwan finishing plant as a key part of its two-year expansion strategy (2000-2002), spending over $400 million, which tripled the company’s worldwide production capacity in order to keep pace with industry growth.

The Taiwan installation joins plants in Shizuoka, Japan and two Samsung Corning Precision (SCP) plants in Gumi and Asan, South Korea. The company also operates a glass melting and forming plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

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