Taiwan's AU to invest T$400 bln in new LCD plants -paper
TAIPEI, Aug 20 (Reuters) - AU Optronics (2409.TW) would invest at least T$400 billion ($12.7 billion) to build four new LCD plants after Taiwan's government makes a decision on the location of a new production zone, a local newspaper said on Wednesday.
AU Optronics (AUO.N), the world's third-largest LCD maker, has invested T$600 billion in the industrial science parks in central Taiwan, and AU would build four LCD factories using more advanced generation 10 and above technology, the Economic Daily News reported, without citing sources.
Later on Wednesday, Taiwan's government is expected to choose a site where local companies can expand production from one county in central Taiwan, the Chinese-language newspaper said.
An AU official would only say that the company needs a large piece of land where it can build new plants over the longer term. AU, which competes with larger rivals Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and LG Display (034220.KS) of South Korea, has said it is planning to build a new state-of-the-art LCD plant to tap future demand for flat-screen televisions.
About two hours into trade, AU's Taipei-listed shares fell 0.1 percent, while the main TAIEX index was almost flat.
In late July, AU warned of an impending slowdown even though it posted a second-quarter profit that was more than triple from a year ago.
Blaming high fuel costs and a global economic downturn that hurt spending on new PCs and flat-screen TVs, AU predicted lower prices and smaller shipment growth for the third quarter. (US$1=T$31.4) (Reporting by Baker Li, Editing by Ken Wills)
