Toyoda Gosei to boost LED capacity by 70%
The company will spend 1.5 billion yen (about $13 million) to increase the monthly capacity of its plant in Aichi Prefecture to 120 million units by March, raising the number to 150 million by September.
Toyoda Gosei, which also makes autoparts and is affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp., produces blue, green and white LEDs. The strongest demand comes from the mobile phone market, where LEDs are used as backlights for keypads and liquid crystal display (LCD) screens.
Toyoda Gosei will also enhance its overseas sales operations for LEDs. In China, where use of mobile phones is growing very rapidly, Toyoda Gosei will set up a sales firm jointly with Mitsui & Co. At present, the company sells LEDs through local subsidiaries and sales agents in China and other countries.
The company has been strengthening its LED operations since resolving its long-running patent dispute with Nichia last fall.
Toyoda Gosei expects sales from its LED operations to rise 80% year-on-year to 25 billion yen ($212 million) for the year ending March 2003.
