Environment assessment poses hurdles new Asahi Glass plant in Taiwan

Having already said it may consider changing its plans to establish a plant outside the "Tree Valley Park" in Southern Taiwan, Asahi Glass may have no choice but to make the change as the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) has said the glass substrate maker´s production at the park may have a serious impact over fellow panel makers in the area, which implies that Asahi Glass could face difficulty in passing the required environment assessment.

Since production of glass substrates in a furnace generates sulfur dioxide from the burning of oil, this would place an impact over surrounding IC and panel makers, said CW Chen, director of STSP. If Asahi Glass is unwilling/able to change its fuel from oil to gas, its application is unlikely to be approved, he added.

The Industry Development Bureau under Taiwan´s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), however, is now offering assistance to Asahi Glass in seeking an alternative location that does not require an environment assessment. Chen said a decision on a new location will be revealed soon.

Regarding the sixth-generation (6G) plant of Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) at the same site, Chen said an environment assessment is still underway and declined to comment further.