Crystal Valley Conference and Exhibition 2006 (CVCE, www.crystalvalley.org) will kick off November 22, 2006 and will last for three days at Sun Moon University, Asan, Korea. This is the second time the Conference and Exhibition has met to globalize Chungnam Crystal Valley.
This CVCE's purpose is to prepare a channel of brisk R&D network construction at home and abroad. This international collaboration system of corporations, universities, and laboratories is also about information exchange, high-grade manpower exchange, information circulation and technology recreation associated with the display industry.
Conference Chair S.H. Lee of the Chungnam Display Cooperation Agency stressed: "Ultimately, CVCE is to help Chungnam so that this province can be nurtured as a production stronghold possessing over 30% of world display market and as a dynamic innovation cluster that combines manufacturing function and research function."
However, CVCE 2005 had a raft of problems. It was difficult to find a venue for special exhibitions and meetings. There was also a business accommodation facility shortage. There was no differentiation strategy with another conference and exhibition, and there was even a buyer invitation shortage both from home and abroad.
In consideration of such problems the Conference Chair said that they will do their best to make the CVCE 2006 a very successful event that will be remembered by all the attendees and exhibitors for a long time. The conference will focus on LCD backlighting and OLED technologies and will have 30 paper authors invited to speak from all over the world.
World-class display industry cluster construction
Regarding global display market trends, flat displays in the world display market are anticipated to surpass the $55 billion memory semiconductor market by having sales of $69.9 billion in 2007.
LCD, LED and PDP are forecast to show an annual growth rate of 22%, 25%, and 60% respectively while OLED, which is in a market penetration period, is expected to show a growth rate of over 113%.
In the home display industry, LCD has emerged as a key export industry, growing by an annual average of 23% since its mass production in 1985. Korea possessed 40% of world market in 2003 with the largest scale TFT-LCD mass production in the world since 2001.
PDP occupied approximately 30% market share in 2003 from 3% in 2001. Its global market share has enlarged rapidly since mass production began in 1999. Thanks to investment from Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, LG Electronics developed a 76 inch PDP-TV in 2003 and Samsung SDI succeeded in mass producing a 70 inch PDP-TV by using Multi Cutting Process technology.
In the case of LED displays, their global market share ceaselessly increased from 1% in 2001 to 5.3% in 2003 since its mass production began in 1999.
In the new display industry field of OLED, SNMD, a joint venture company between Samsung SDI and NEC, has begun to mass produce PM-OLED. It also engaged in R&D about next-generation displays such as FED, 3-D displays, and electronic paper.
Equipment, component and material industries also are rapidly growing in step with domestic display industry's growth and investment enlargement. The localization rate of components and materials is becoming higher with priority given to LCD, but its raw material is dependent on imports for the most part.
Intensifying competition among Northeast Asian countries
The competition between display clusters to secure world market competition superiority is intensifying. The competition between panel manufacturers to secure display market initiative is fierce. Samsung, LG and Sharp are unfolding their fierce competition for the purpose of a market initiative.
With regard to competition from large scale industry clusters, it is reported that four East Asian countries, namely Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China, are building exclusive display complexes now. The complexes are on the scale of dozen to several hundred million pyeong.
From the standpoint of the present, Korea is building the largest display cluster in the world in Asan Tanggeong amounting to 2.13 million pyeong (approx. 7.029 million square meters). The complex actually includes two smaller complexes. The first complex is 740,000 pyeong (2,442,000 square meters) and the second complex is 640,000 pyeong (2,112,000 square meters).
With its strategy to secure the initial market through preinvestment, Japan is slated to invest 150 billion yen in an 8th generation line with the goal of mass production in Oct. 2006 corresponding to Korea's aggressive investment.
Taiwan is nurturing LCD clusters across the entire island centering around three scientific complexes and China has joined large-sized LCD investment competition within China in earnest as SVA-NEC and BOE-OT commence mass production through their fifth generation line to overcome their weak point as latecomers.
Excellent location near harbor, airport and Innopolis
Concerning CVCE hosting goals, Conference Chair Lee emphasizes the geographical superiority of the Chunan- Asan region for the display industry. Chungnam's accessibility with harbor and airport are very convenient. And, due to its proximity to Daedeok Innopolis, the region's growth possibilities as a new industry hub in Northeast Asian economic circles are high.
The Chunan-Asan region, among others, is becoming a site for electronics industry information machinery and tools. Samsung Electronics is gathering together in the region with component and material manufacturers with priority given to semiconductor and display industries.
As a result, Lee assessed that these preparations have made the Chunan-Asan region a mecca of the largest scale display industry in the world.
A global mecca for the display industry
Yet, many tasks remain for the activation of the Chungnam display industry. The first is corporate environment formation to induce the settlement of cutting-edge LCD corporations. The second task is back-end complex formation according to largescale state-of-the-art industry movements.
The third remaining job is collaboration complex preparation to attract superior manpower. Also, the area needs to attract collaborating display-related companies at home and abroad in order to receive more R&D funds. These funds can be used to nurture component, material, and equipment manufacturers related to the display industry.
CVCE's basic development direction in the middle and long run is to maintain Crystal Valley's international image as well as to leap into a technology and business hub.
To that end, the Conference Chair committed himself to doing his best so that CVCE can contribute to constructing a world-class display industry cluster that looks attractive to leading corporations and laboratories at home and abroad, and contributing to Crystal Valley's internationalization by hosting CVCE annually.
Moreover, the Conference Chair said that Chungnam Display Cooperation Agency will do its best so that the Crystal Valley Conference and Exhibition can strike root as an international exhibition in world display technology contributing to product standardization by activating international business dealings.
