The earthquake that affected Corning’s substrate glass factory in Japan hasn’t affected output as badly as expected, the company said today.
He said that repairs on the firm’s site in Shizuoka are back on track and will restart production this month, and advance that production in October.
Corning produces substrates used by TFT-LCD companies like LG, Samsung, and a bundle of Taiwanese manufacturers. Prices of panels rose significantly after Corning warned of the problem.
However, the bright side of this for the manufacturers of LCD panels is that “partially restarted” facilities in Taiwan will only make up for some of the shortfall until the Japanese facility is in full production.
The CEO, Wendell Weeks, said: “The display supply chain is expanding in preparation for what we now believe will be a stronger fourth quarter than we originally thought. As a result, we now anticipate worldwide glass demand in the fourth quarter will not be as strong as the third quarter.”
Which means prices may stabilize a bit.
