TAIPEI - Taiwan authorities approved AU Optronics Corp's $3 billion project to make television and computer display panels on the Chinese mainland, in a bid to maintain the island's technology edge amid increasing competition from South Korea, the Associated Press reported Monday.
AU Optronics will make the generation 7.5 panels in the Kunshan industrial park in eastern China to take advantage of the mainland's lower wages and production costs, said the report, citing the "Investment Commission".
The sanctioning of the project Friday came after South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co and LG Display -- the world's two largest liquid crystal display panel makers -- announced similar plans to invest on the Chinese mainland, the report said.
Besides investing in Kunshan, AU Optronics also plans to build two new factories in Taiwan to make panels and promises to employ at least 5,000 new workers on the island in the coming 10 years, the "Investment Commission" said.
