Epson Opens New Projector Panel Operation

Epson has announced the opening of a new projector panel fab in Japan, allowing the company to meet a steadily increasing demand for liquid crystal projectors.

From Epson’s press release:

Seiko Epson Corporation (”Epson”) announced today that construction has been completed on schedule at the company’s once-delayed Chitose Plant, a high-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD panel (”HTPS panel”) fabrication facility located in the Chitose Bibi World industrial park in Hokkaido, Japan. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held today at the site to commemorate the company’s first 300-mm quartz-wafer line for manufacturing the state-of-the-art HTPS panels used in liquid crystal projectors.

Demand for HTPS panels used in business projectors has been steadily rising along with increased demand for presentations in business and, more recently, increased projector use in the education market. Meanwhile, the spread of DVD players and digital broadcasts has sparked burgeoning consumer demand for front projectors and large-screen LCD projection TVs for the home.

Epson is currently manufacturing HTPS panels on 200-mm (8-inch) wafers at its Suwa Minami Plant in Fujimi, Nagano Prefecture. However, with demand predicted to outstrip capacity, Epson decided to resume construction on the Chitose fab in August 2003. Construction was completed on schedule.

Epson has long led the projection market with its 3-LCD projection systems. And, as the liquid-crystal light-valve industry’s number one manufacturer, Epson maintained its grip on an approximately 55% share of the global market for the 2003 fiscal year ending March 2004. Underpinning this strength is the company’s proprietary, advanced liquid crystal and high-aperture ratio technologies, which enable it to offer low-power HTPS products that provide unrivaled light efficiency, outstanding brightness and superior color reproduction