Press Release *****For immediate use April 12th, 2000 NEC to Build New Plant with NEC Kansai for LCD Driver IC Production
TOKYO April 12th, 2000 - NEC Corporation (NEC) (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l) and NEC Kansai, Ltd. (NEC Kansai), will invest 35 billion Yen to build a new plant at NEC Kansai to produce liquid crystal display (LCD) display driver ICs. The new plant is expected to commence volume production from November 2000, and NEC expects to lever the additional capacity to secure a 30% share of the LCD driver IC market. Construction of the new plant is expected to start in July 2000 with trial production beginning from October. Volume production capacity is planned for 11,000 8-in wafers per month in a 4,200m-sq. clean room. NEC's decision to build a new plant at NEC Kansai specializing in production of LCD driver ICs, follows other moves by the company to establish new capacity for the products. NEC plants in North America, Europe and China are to begin production of the driver ICs, while NEC also announced a tie-up on March 9th with Sanyo Electric for production of the devices and has an agreement with Tokin Ltd. to outsource production. LCD driver ICs are a key component in LCD displays that are increasingly being used as monitors for desktop personal computers and screens in mobile telephones, notebook PCs and other terminals. But explosive growth in demand for these products, has lead to a tight supply situation for these key LCD driver ICs. Despite the demand for LCD driver ICs, however, not all semiconductor manufacturers offer the specialized high voltage process required to manufacture the devices. Moreover, with network operators providing access to the Internet and an increasing amount of other services, cellular phones are seeing both an increase in average screen size and the use of color LCDs, trends which mean each screen will require a greater number of LCD driver ICs. With annual shipments of cellular phones increasing by over 100 million units per year, expectations are for the supply-demand situation to become even more severe. This factor, together with growth in the overall semiconductor market of nearly 20% in 1999 and an anticipated 15% in 2000, lead to NEC's decision to build the new plant at NEC Kansai. The benefits of opening a new line at NEC Kansai, include the company's rich array of technological and engineering skills to support LCD driver IC products, through from development to production, and integrated fabrication and assembly capabilities. It is this combination of capabilities that is expected to enable the new plant to achieve full production in an extremely short time frame. The new plant will be an important part of a drive by NEC to meet increasing customer demand for these key devices and the company intends to make maximum use of future investments to ensure it satisfies customer expectations.
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Media Contact:
Aston Bridgman
NEC Corporation
TEL :+81-3-3798-6511
FAX :+81-3-3457-7249
E-mail:Aston_Bridgman@HO-PRD.ccgw.nec.co.jp
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