14 DAY TRIAL // As the LCD technology dominates the computer display industry, companies activating in this field are having a great time in terms of shipments, and their order of day is expansion and adoption of new manufacturing processes. The LCD producing company HannStar Display already decided to shift its production capabilities to medium and large LCD panels in an effort to make them more popular among computer users.
According to the news site DigiTimes, the company already announced the selling of two of its small LCD panel production plants, including land, plant facilities, office buildings and related assets, to the Wintek company that has taken a keen interest into the small LCD panel market. Another such 3G (3rd generation) TFT LCD plant will shift hands from HannStar Display to Wintek soon for the sum of $273 million. HannStar chairman Chiao Yu-chi said that even if the market of small LCD panels is growing, his company aims to stay competitive in the long run by shifting to newer and bigger display formats, such as the 5th generation (5G for short) LCDs that are currently being produced for both the other manufacturers and for its own brand business.
The LCD brand business from HannStar will include the company's Hanns.G LCD monitor and HANNspree LCD TV lines that will be supplied by the firm's own 5G production lines. Those production lines are working towards a monthly capacity of 120,000 substrates, focusing on LCD monitors with 17 or 19-inch displays that come in the widescreen format. For the future, HannStar has plans to ship 28-inch monitors, that are scheduled to begin production in a few months. As most of its small size LCD panel production lines were sold to Wintek, HannStar will shortly discontinue the production of the smaller LCVD panels, after the completions of the company's partnership with Casio to which HannStar delivered small and medium sized LCDs, handsets, digital cameras and portable music players.
As HannStar Display is pulling out of the small LCD size business, the Wintek company is eager to fill the void by shifting its entire attention and production lines towards that particular market segment. After the acquisition of HannStar Display's 3G production lines, Wintek has now a combined capacity of over 110,000 LCD panels a month, which gives it the possibility to expand in previously inaccessible markets like GPS, DSC, and UMPC.