ULVAC Builds the World's First Plant for Large PV and FPD Manufacturing Equipment in Suzhou, China

ULVAC, Inc. (Headquarters: 2500 Hagisono, Chigasaki, Kanagawa; President & CEO: Hidenori Suwa) is pleased to announce the construction of its new plant for the production of large PV and FPD manufacturing equipment at the ULVAC (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (USZ) site in Suzhou, China.

Asian countries including South Korea, Taiwan, and China now serve as important bases for the production of flat panel displays (FPDs) including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), photovoltaics (PVs), and light emitting diodes (LEDs). In China, by taking advantage of the stimulus measures for domestic demand (the subsidy program for home appliance purchases in rural areas), the building of many large-scale manufacturing plants with more than ten production lines for the production of large TFT-LCDs, essential components for liquid-crystal televisions in particular, has been planned for the next few years. In addition, not only is China's PV production volume the highest in the world, but it is expected to further increase in the future owing to the country's PV-related subsidy program.
At the same time, due to cost reductions and measures against currency exchange risks, both the globalization of manufacturing and sales and production in China are increasing in the fields of TFT-LCD and PV manufacturing equipment and materials. In order for enterprises to survive in this situation, the production of such equipment and materials at a low cost in places where customers are located is essential.

In response to such globalization of the customer base, ULVAC established ULVAC Korea, Ltd. and ULVAC Taiwan, Inc., as a move toward production of its semiconductor and LCD manufacturing equipment at locations where its customers are based.
In China, we have a long history of manufacturing vacuum pumps, vacuum gauges, control devices, and other devices and parts. We are forging ahead with the globalization of the manufacturing and sales of our equipment by establishing the following: ULVAC (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. for the manufacture and sales of manufacturing equipment for electronic parts and LEDs; ULVAC Vacuum Furnace (Shenyang) Co., Ltd. for the manufacture and sales of melting furnaces and heat treatment equipment, etc.; ULVAC Orient (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. for the manufacture and sales of film deposition systems and leak detectors for the automobile industry; ULVAC Opto-electronics Thinfilm Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. for contract manufacturing of touch panels and manufacture of touch panel equipment; and ULVAC Materials (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. for production of sputtering targets and vacuum deposition materials. At present, ULVAC has 16 subsidiaries in China and its China related sales (sales from subsidiaries in China and export sales to China) have reached 33.3 billion yen (for the fiscal year ending June 2010).
In the meantime, we have prioritized the production of large PV and FPD manufacturing equipment in Japan due to technical difficulties. However, in view of the wave of trends in the PV and TFT-LCD manufacturing equipment industry, such as globalization, cost reductions, measures against currency exchange risks, and production at customer bases, we have decided to build a new plant for large PV and FPD manufacturing equipment at ULVAC Suzhou (USZ) in order for us to succeed in the growing market. ULVAC is the world's first company to manufacture large PV and FPD equipment in China, and the new plant will be the 5th large FPD manufacturing equipment plant the company has built.

The new plant will support the production of large PV manufacturing equipment as well as large FPD manufacturing equipment, and the main products will include: the CIM-1400 (5.5th generation substrate compatible), a PE-CVD system for microcrystal silicon layer utilized in thin-film silicon photovoltaic modules, the SMD-2400 (8th generation substrate compatible), the SMD1500 (5.5th generation substrate compatible), and the SMD950 (4th generation substrate compatible) LCD sputtering systems.
It will be built adjacent to USZ's plant for electronic parts and LED manufacturing equipment within the Suzhou Industrial Park. It will be a single-story building and will initially have a total floor space of 3000m2. The plant will consist of clean rooms, machining shops, and other facilities and will have a structure that is easy to expand or renovate, allowing it to be expanded according to future demand in China. The construction of this new plant is scheduled to begin in April 2011 and to be completed in December 2011. The planned number of pieces of equipment produced per year is 10 for 2012, which is expected to increase to 50 by 2015. The planned amount of capital investment for the first year is 600 million yen with a total of approximately 3 billion yen over the five years. We expect the number of employees in the new plant will be 60 including loaned employees in the first year.

[New Plant Overview]

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