What They Say
Digitimes reported that Hannstar is to invest around $600 million in boosting the capacity of its 5G fab which was established in 2005. The capacity is around 130-140K substrates/month but this will be boosted by 30K/month. Funding will come from the firm’s cash position/
The expansion will be used to boost the firm’s small/medium panel capacity. The firm also plans to develop miniLED and microLED production.
What We Think
Well that was a surprise. I didn’t expect Hannstar to ever be able to boost its capacity. However, the current market conditions have allowed it to build up some cash to invest. I suspect that was essential as it seemed unlikely that Hannstar would have been able to go to commercial markets to raise funds for this. Hats off to Hannstar’s management to achieve this expansion. The firm has been very agile over the years in responding to market conditions to allow its survival.
Separately, Hannstar has agreed to pay $30 million in fines on price fixing from a case that has been going on for more than ten years. (BR)
