Mega unit reinforces electronic hub status
A mega liquid crystal display (LCD) project formally kicked off in Foshan's Nanhai District, Guangdong Province, this week, strengthening the province's status as an electronic hub.
Covering more than 133 hectares, Nanhai Chimei Electronic Corporation will annually manufacture more than 10 million high-quality LCD panels from 2008, with an annual sales volume of over $2.5 billion.
The monthly production capacity will reach 200,000 LCD panels by the end of this year. This is the largest LCD project to date in the southern province.
"The project will boost Guangdong's electronic and LCD industries," said Huang Longyun, executive vice-governor of the province.
He believes the project has tremendous prospects because of the huge demand. Many local people have started upgrading their TV sets and other household appliances. Last year alone, Guangdong imported LCD panels and liquid crystal TV sets worth more than $10 billion.
The figure will grow this year because of the increasing demand for liquid crystal TV sets. In addition to the vast domestic market, the products will also be exported.
The project is expected to reinforce Guangdong's status as one of the major production bases for electronics and color TV sets in the world. Last year, Guangdong accounted for more than 47 percent of the total number of color TV sets produced in the country.
In addition to the Chimei project, two major LCD units will come onstream in Guangzhou and Shenzhen later this year.
(China Daily 10/19/2007 page15)
