Friday, December 19, 2003
Sanyo Electric (Taiwan) Co., Ltd. together with its strategic partners highlighted by chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) unveiled a 53-inch LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) RPTV (rear-projection television).
Chairman John Hsuan of United Microdisplay pointed out that Sanyo is the world's first manufacturer to begin volume production of big-screen LCOS-based TVs. Sanyo has developed the high-definition TV technology for two years with UMC, United Microdisplay Optronics Corp., Thintek Optronics Corp., Premier Image Technology Corp. and Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
United Microdisplay is a UMC affiliate and Thintek is a joint venture between United Microdisplay and Premier. In this teamwork, United Microdisplay designs high-definition video chip and assembles the chip with LCOS panel, UMC builds the chips, Thintek develops optical engine (or projector), Premier assembles optical engines, Toppan of Japan supplies TV screens and Sanyo supplies video system.
United Microdisplay's 0.75-inch chip allows this TV to run definition of 1024 x 768. The tag price for LCOS TV is NT$99,800 and expecting to sell 10,000 units next year. Hsuan expected 2004 to be a critical year for the world market for big-screen TVs because half of TVs bigger than 36 inches in the U.S. will have to be equipped with digital signal devices beginning next year.
Sanyo Taiwan's nearest domestic rival TECO Electric & Machinery is also developing the TVs. Separately, sources reported that UMC faced falling yield rates with 0.35- to 0.18-micron processes at its 8-inch Fab 8C, which is mainly used to handle orders from Taiwanese IC design houses. Hsuan said it is small production problems at the 8-inch fab and assured that all UMC fabs are running close to full utilization.
By: DocMemory
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