Asahi Glass Boosts Production

Asahi Glass Co said it will spend 11M JPY to boost production capacity of glass tubes used in LCD panel backlights due to strong demand for LCD TVs. The company has scheduled to add kilns and production lines at an existing plant of its unit Asahi Techno Glass Corp in Shizuoka, central Japan by spring 2007. Production capacities for LCD backlight glass tubes will more than double, from 270/t per month at present to 600 tpm. The firm said the global market for such glass tubes is expected to rise from 13,000 tonnes in 2006 to 24,000 tonnes in 2008. Asahi aims to obtain at least 30% of the market share, compared with the current 25%.