NEG plans to increase its monthly production capacity for LCD panel substrates by 20% to 2.7M sq. meters in Oct/07. The firm has already spent around JPY 28BN to add equipment at its Notogawa plant in Shiga Prefecture, boosting output capacity by 30% to 2.3M sq. meters a month by the end of March/07. Following on from this capital investment, NEG will spend about JPY 11BN to renovate glass production equipment at its Takatsuki plant in Shiga Prefecture, including glass melting furnaces. Meanwhile, the firm's joint venture factory in Shanghai to cut & clean glass substrates is set to begin operations in Sept/07. This will give NEG the opportunity to expand the supply of substrates to foreign LCD panel makers, including South Korea's LG.Philips LCD Co; Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp; & SVA (Group); a Chinese firm that is a partner in the joint venture factory. Through these efforts, the company will keep pace with the growing global demand for LCD panels and catch-up with the other two firms that, together with Nippon Electric Glass, dominate the global market and are also spending to raise their capacity. Corning Inc. of the US holds 50% of the total market, while Asahi Glass Co. is in second place with around 25%. Nippon Electric Glass has around 20%.
