Toray Advanced Film to Manufacture Surface Protection Film in Taiwan

12 Aug 2011

Toray Advanced Film Co., Ltd. (head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Susumu Yamaguchi; 94.41% owned by Toray; hereinafter referred to as “TAF”) today announced that it has decided to establish a company in Taiwan for the manufacture and sales of surface protection films. The new company, Toray Advanced Film Kaohsiung Co., Ltd., will be set up in Kaohsiung in May this year and a plant to manufacture TAF’s self-adhesive surface protection film TORETEC* will be also constructed. The new plant is expected to be operational by January 2013 and will steadily increase its output to 17,000 tons per year. This decision marks the first foray into the country by Toray Group’s films division and it is also going to be the first time that TORETEC* will be produced overseas.

TORETEC* is a polyethylene-based self-adhesive protective film developed by TAF. Currently, the film is widely used as process film during manufacture of various optical films used in LCDs, etc. and as a protective film for plastic boards.

In recent years, with LED gaining popularity as backlight for LCDs, the demand for surface protection film is rapidly increasing across Asia led by demand in luminance improvement films and light guide plates, materials indispensable for production of LED-based LCDs. TAF has been fully utilizing its production capacity against the backdrop of robust global demand, but further increase in capacity became imperative as supplies have not been keeping pace with demand.

In addition to the strong request from a major Taiwanese manufacturer of light guide plates with the largest market share in the world, for local manufacture of the films in Taiwan, other factors that led to TAF’s decision to make the foray into Taiwan include the country’s reduced corporate taxes and other business-friendly policies as well as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement it signed with China that is expected to boost the country’s export competitiveness.

Toray Group is positioning the company to be established as a beachhead for film processing business in the growing market of Asia so as to strengthen its ability to address customer requirements by securing a stable supply structure. At the same time, the Group aims to further expand the films business, which includes film processing, by promoting new product development in the growing information and communication field.

<Outline of the new company>

1. Name: Toray Advanced Film Kaohsiung Co., Ltd.
2. To be established: May 2011 (scheduled)
3. Address: Kaohsiung Science Park, Southern Taiwan Science Park, Lujhu Township, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
4. Capitalization: 3.5 billion yen (NT$1.237 billion)
5. Investment: 70% by Toray Advanced Film Co., Ltd., 30% by Toray Industries, Inc.
6. Main business: Manufacture and sales of TORETEC* polyolefin-based film

Source: http://www.toray.com/news/film/nr110418.html