Wah Hong Industrial recently said it aims to grow its overall capacity in China by around 37% to 18.5 million diffusion sheets by year end, up from 13.5 million now. The maker also projects a price reduction of over 10% for optical films this year.

Wah Hong's Huizhou plant in China will see monthly capacity double to six million units while its Suzhou plant will have a monthly capacity of 12.5 million units by year-end, up from 10.5 million now, the maker said.

Optical film prices will continue to drop over 10% this year, the maker said. Prices for the segment dropped 15-20% in 2006, compared to the 2-3% quarterly reduction range before, due to a weak performance of the panel industry.

Wah Hong will add 10-11 units of cutting equipment for larger-size products in 2007 amid a rising demand for TV panels, the maker said.

The optical film provider estimated the proportion of sales from South Korea-based clients will rise in the second half of 2007, compared to less than 5% in the first half. The maker now accounts for over half of the optical films needed from Taiwan-based panel makers, with existing clients including Coretronic and Radiant Optoelectronics. Its South Korea-based clients include Samsung Electronics and LG. Philips LCD.

Wah Hong recently reported consolidated revenues of NT$331 million (US$10.0 million) in December 2006, representing a 23% sequential drop, because of a decline in shipments from TFT LCD makers.

The company said it expects its sales to rebound in January and see a sequential increase of more than 20% due to delayed shipments from December.

Source:未知