AGC to get land for expansion project in Yunlin by year-end

Yunlin County Government officials also pointed out that AGC plans to invest an additional NT$20 billion (US$625 million at US$1: NT$33.8) in expanding the production scale of its local subsidiary, the Asahi Glass Fine Techno Taiwan Co. Ltd. (AFT), by setting up a new glass-substrate furnace in the park.

AGC's expansion project in Taiwan is expected to further the clustering effects to attract more companies in TFT-LCD panel-related sectors to operate in the Yunlin park, the Yunlin government officials added.

The officials said that the CO2 emission problem would affect the progress of the AGC project as glass furnace relies heavily on water and electricity rather than coal. The officials also added that AGC's expansion project in Taiwan implies the Japanese company's great recognition of Taiwan's market and investment environment. Currently, AGC Group runs six glass furnaces around the world, with four in Japan and two in Taiwan.

BES, which is responsible for the land sales and development of the Yunlin park, said that development of AGC's targeted land area would be completed by the end of the year.

AGC is currently the world's No. 2 glass substrate supplier trailing Corning of the U.S. The Japanese firm owns production techniques for the widest substrates in the world and has completed development of both seventh- and eighth-generation substrate products.

AFT now owns two fourth-generation glass grinding lines with total monthly capacity of 300,000 substrates, four fifth-generation such lines with total monthly capacity of about 400,000 such substrates, and one sixth-generation line with a monthly capacity of dozens of thousands substrates.