Eying the rising volume of small panel applications, Samsung plans to start pumping out medium and small sized panels on its fourth generation production lines as early as October 2004. The company aims to boost total monthly mid-to-small sized panel capacity to 10 million units in 2005.

 

Presently only two companies are using fourth-generation lines to produce mid-to-small sized TFT LCD panels: Samsung and Sharp. Samsung's fourth generation line uses 730mm x 920mm sized motherglass, which is larger than Sharp's 680mm x 880mm sized substrates. Samsung's decision will thus create the world's largest capacity line for mid-to-small sized panels.

 

Samsung's L1 and L2 production lines had already completed a shift to medium and small sized panels in the first half of 2004. The L1 line (370mm x 470mm) can currently produce 66 two-inch panels from one substrate. The fourth generation plants can cut four times that amount from one substrate -- over 290 units. Monthly motherglass input on Samsung's fourth generation line currently reaches 90,000 units. Preliminary plans call for one-tenth, or 9,000 substrates, to be cut into mid-to-small size panels. This will bring Samsung's total monthly small panel capacity up to six million units in the fourth quarter of 2004, growing roughly 50% from the third quarter total.