Corning executive: Taiwan to lead demand for glass substrates in 2006

Clappin, general manager of Display Technologies and president of Display Technologies Asia, two Corning business groups.

Corning expects strong substrate demand from Taiwan to persist, and the company will keep investing in the region to ensure sufficient supply for Taiwan panel makers, Clappin said. He also said that Corning expects the global glass-substrate market to triple in size from 2004 to 2007.

In a September 17 article, Corning projected that the global glass-substrate market will reach 510 million square feet in 2004 and 1.1 billion square feet in 2006.

In related news, Corning is rumored to have suspended operations at its Japan-based furnaces since the company had decided to schedule its annual vacation now rather than one quarter later, as previously scheduled. Sources indicated that the suspension will help ease the current oversupply of large-size panels since there will be less glass substrates available for the panel makers. Corning Display Technologies, Taiwan, denied that Corning suspended operations at its Japan furnaces, saying that the company’s supply of fifth-generation (5G) glass substrates is not affected. The company also confirmed that Corning does schedule annual vacations for its furnaces.