Hsinchu, Taiwan,
AUO Corporation ("AUO" or the "Company") (TAIEX: 2409; NYSE: AUO) announced today that in order to provide just-in-time services to European customers, AUO has established AU Optronics (Slovakia) s.r.o. in the Slovak Republic, located in the center of European mainland, and plans to invest more than 191 million Euro starting from 2010. As AUO's major European production base, AUO Slovakia will be responsible for manufacturing, assembling, and selling large-sized LCD modules. This investment is one of the biggest investment projects in the Slovak Republic since the financial turmoil in 2008. AUO's Chairman, Mr. K. Y. Lee, and Ľubomír Jahnátek, Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic, signed an investment agreement in a signing ceremony held at 1:15pm Central European Time (8:15pm Taiwan Standard Time). Both of Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Dusan Caplovic and Representative of Taipei Representative Office, Bratislava, Mr. Chiun-ming Chen, attended the ceremony to witness the meaningful moment.
Mr. K. Y. Lee noted during the signing ceremony that Europe is one of the major markets for LCD TV. AUO also regards Europe as the highly potential growth market for its green business. To provide clients direct and prompt supports, strengthen its global presence, and be closer to customers are the key considerations of this investment project. Slovakia is located in the center of Europe and has joined euro zone since 2009. The country not only offers high quality and competitive human resources to enterprises, but also has stable economy development to drive the growth of GDP.
Ľubomír Jahnátek, Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic, said, “AUO is a global leading TFT-LCD manufacturer. Slovakia welcomes AUO to establish the manufacturing plant in the country very much. The production will be in the field of hi-tech, which is in accordance with the Ministry of Economy's policy to prefer investments aimed at innovations, research and high technologies.”
This new manufacturing facility of AU Optronics (Slovakia) is in Trencin city with the fab area of around 200,000 square meters. The production capacity will be increased based on customers' demand gradually. The initial product lines will be focused on large-sized LCD modules. Other component companies within the group may be added to the production site in the future.
AUO has LCM factories in Lungtan and Taichung, Taiwan, and Suzhou, Songjiang, and Xiamen, China, as well as in Czech Republic. According to the product features and production capacity allocation, the global LCM facilities will support the global customers' orders respectively. The establishment of the LCM fab in Slovakia is a significant milestone for AUO to deeply engage in European market. The presence in Slovakia can also allow AUO to provide better customer services to global clients, and enable world-renowned TV set-makers in neighboring European countries to improve their supply chain management of high quality LCD products.
Yawen Hsiao
Corporate Communications Division
AUO Corporation
No.1, Li-Hsin RD 2, Science-Based Industrial Park,
Hsinchu City 300, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tel：+886-3-500-8899 ext：3211
Fax：+886-3-5772730
Email：Yawen.Hsiao@sztuolian.com