Topic:  Industry It’s reported that Taiwan’s DRAM chipmakers and backlight-module makers had announced aggressive investments in LED epitaxy-wafer production last year in anticipation of bright market future, touting to add a total of 100 metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) machines to the Taiwan industry. However, their optimism has been dampened by the global economic crisis, which has hamstrung consumer spending of various sectors including high-tech products like LED, DRAM and LCD TVs. .. Read more

Topic:  Industry Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), marking its tenth anniversary, has spelt out its roadmap for the next 10 years, during which it will slow down its expansion in the LCD panel industry and will instead gear up the development for LEDs, eco-friendly lighting, and solar energy. Quote:  Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), marking its tenth anniversary, has spelt out its roadmap for the next 10 years, during which it will slow down its expansion in the LCD panel industry and will instead gear up the development for LEDs, eco-friendly lighting, and solar energy.

CMO president Jau-Yang Ho said the company's establishment in 1998 marked the Chi Mei Group's crossing over into the high-tech industry from the petrochemical industry. Over the past 10 years, CMO has invested more than NT$500 billion (US$15.94 billion) in building various facilities, including eight LCD panel fabs.

Having overcome many of the difficulties in the last 10 years, CMO is looking ahead with an aim to become an international company that cares about the environmental issues and repays society, he said.

Heading towards the econ-friendly industries in the next 10 years, CMO has already set up the LED product maker Chi Mei Lighting Technology (CMLT), and the photovoltaic (PV) module company Chi Mei Energy (CME), he said.

The LED product maker has already started making profits, and the Chi Mei Group will invest more to expand its capacity, Ho said.

For CME, equipment installation will start by the end of 2008, with an initial capacity of 25MWp, and volume production will begin in the first half of 2009, he added.

While the LCD panel industry will continue to grow, the pace of growth will not be as fast that in the last 10 years, Ho said. Therefore CMO will slow down its investments in the LCD panel business, he added. News Source:  Digitimes

Topic:  Industry Recently, at Rubicon Technology’s 2Q08 earnings conference call with industry analysts, the company's president and CEO discussed the future of the LED market. 
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