The company, the second biggest flat panel maker on the island, said the proceeds will be used to finance the construction of three next-generation plants in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park of southern Taiwans, a company statement said.

"Since LCD TV will be the central interface in future Digital Homes, CMO has decided to build three TFT-LCD (thin-film-transistor liquid crystal display) TV fabs on 80 hectares of land in Tainan Science-based Industrial Park," company president Ho Jau-yang said in a statement.

CMO said the first plant will be 5.5-generation and will begin production in the first quarter of 2005.

The company added the second plant will be seventh-generation, and the third will be subject to market demands and technological feasibility.

Chi Mei now operates one fifth-generation plant and three other facilities.

Au Optronics, Taiwan's leading manufacturer of TFT-LCD panels and the world's third biggest, launched the construction of a cutting-edge TFT-LCD complex estimated to cost 80 billion dollars at Taichung Science-based Industrial Park in central Taiwan in July.

Besides the TFT-LCD facility, the complex will house a color filter plant and a module assembly fab, chairman K.Y. Lee said.

The plant is scheduled to begin mass production in the second quarter of 2005 with an initial monthly capacity of 60,000 panels.

It will make flat panels measuring 1,500 millimeters by 1,850 millimeters (60 inches by 74 inches) with the investment geared mainly towards the robust growth expected in LCD television sales, Lee said.

The new plant will be designed to cut 30-inch to 40-inch panels, while LCD televisions with screens larger than 30 inches will be the mainstream products for the future.

Taiwan's three other flat panel makers -- Quanta Display, HannStar Display, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes -- have also announced ambitious multi-billion US dollar expansion projects.

SPACE.WIRE