Jan 10, 2013
With its panel makers rapidly expanding their capacity, China's demand for glass substrates has been growing fast, and is expected to account for more than one fifth of worldwide glass substrate demand by 2015, according to a major player in the country's display industry.
The Dongxu Group, a major China-based glass supplier, said that by 2015 Taiwan, Korea and Japan will all see their shares of glass demand drop, but China will be the only one who will see a rise. Dongxu estimates that China's display industry will account for more than 20% of global glass demand by 2015, up from about 10% in 2012.
According to figures provided by the LCD branch under the China Optics & Optoelectronics Manufactures Association (COEMA), glass substrate supply in China reached only 12.76 million square meters in 2012, falling short of demand for almost 30 million square meters.
Dongxu said that glass demand will be boosted by growth in production for both LCD panels and touchscreens. The company estimates that worldwide glass substrate demand will reach 450 million square meters in 2013 and 590 million square meters in 2015.
Currently there are 60 glass tanks in Korea, 67 in Japan, 38 in Taiwan, four in Singapore and seven in the US. Despite the fast expansion of its panel industry, China only has 15 glass tanks, all of which only produce TFT glass.
Dongxu and other China-based glass suppliers, such as the Irico Group, have been expanding capacity. US-based Corning is also eager to expand its presence in the fast growing display market in China.
Source：digitimes.com