Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (TSE: 5201) has announced the decision to establish a new firm in Suzhou, Jingsu Province, China that will house a float furnace for automotive glass.
The Company plans to spend less than US$100 million for the establishment.
The decisions comes as a result of the conversion of a float furnace for automotive glass at the Aichi Factory to PDP glass substrates in May 2004. The new company will boost the output of raw glass for automotive use consequently construct a green filed float glass furnace to meet the growing chinese demand.
It is predicted that the Chinese manufacture of automobiles will continue to rise sharply, and in 2010 the country should rise to second place in automobile output following the USA.
The new company is to be set up in May 2004, to begin production in 2nd quarter of 2006