Worldwide glass-substrate capacity is expected to continue to grow more than 40% each quarter through 2005, as a result of capacity expansion by existing glass-substrate suppliers and new companies joining the market, according to DisplaySearch.
Corning will still occupy over half of the global glass-substrate market through 2005, with Asahi Glass claiming about 17-20% and the rest belonging to Nippon Electric Glass (NEG), NH Techno Glass (NHT) and newcomers, the research firm said.
Sources indicated, however, that Cornings share would decline from 60% in the third quarter of this year to 54% in the second quarter of 2006 due to competition from new makers.
Germany-based Schott plans to form a glass-furnace joint venture with Japan companies in South Korea. A South Korea-based paper reported that Schott expects to begin construction of a new furnace next March, with volume shipments to begin in 2006.
In addition, Picvue Optoelectronics International (POI), a subsidiary of Taiwan-based STN-LCD maker Picvue Electronics, will also add new glass-substrate capacity to the global market in the first quarter of 2005, sources said. In a September 27 article, Leo Chien, president of Picvue Electronics, said that POI will start shipping samples of small-size TFT-LCD glass substrates this quarter.
Currently, Corning, Asahi Glass, NEG and NHT are the major glass-substrate providers.
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