By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kentaro Hamada
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese office equipment maker Konica Minolta Holdings Inc (4902.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it plans to spend up to 10 billion yen ($97 million) to build a new production facility for high-tech film used to make LCD panels in 2009.
Konica Minolta, which is developing lighting products using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology with General Electric (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), also said it plans to launch OLED lighting equipment by early 2011.
Konica Minolta competes with Fujifilm Holdings Corp (4901.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in triacetyl cellulose (TAC) film, which protects the polarization plate used in liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.
TAC film demand is growing rapidly as flat TV makers, such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sharp Corp (6753.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are expanding their LCD panel output capacity aggressively.
"Construction of our sixth plant is completed and production is about to start, boosting our total capacity by more than 30 percent," Konica Minolta Senior Executive Officer Shoei Yamana told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Tokyo on Thursday.
The new plant, which will be located in Japan, will have approximately the same output capacity as the sixth line, which can produce 50 million square meters of TAC film a year.
Yamana declined to comment on expected sales of its OLED-based lighting products, but said the bendable lighting equipment will likely be used initially for special purpose lighting and then will replace conventional lighting products.
He said sales of its optical pick-up lenses for Blu-ray DVD players and other Blu-ray machines this year are likely exceed the company's original estimate as battle over technological standards for new high-definition DVDs ended earlier this year. Continued...
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