Konka Has Decided to Terminate Its Partnership with Epistar in a Joint Venture

TV maker Konka has decided to terminate its partnership with Epistar in a joint venture running an epitaxy plant in Changzhou, China. But Epistar indicated that the exist of the China-based partner will not affect the operations of the plant. Epistar has set up plants in China's Changzhou, Guangzhou and Xiamen, each equipped with 30 MOCVD tools, with each of the plants meeting the needs of specific clients. The Changzhou plant began operations in third-quarter 2011 under a partnership between Epistar, Lite-On Technology and Konka. Epistar was responsible for technologies and production while Lite-On supplied LED chip capacity. Konka was supposed to provide orders for LED TV backlights. Due to fluctuations in the TV market, Konka decided to pull out of the joint venture. Konka originally was supposed to take a 10% stake. Despite Konka's exit, Lite-On decided to increase its stake in the joint venture from 25% to 30%, Epistar will continue to hold 70% of the shares. Epistar indicated the MOCVD tools have not yet been fully incepted in the Changzhou plant, hence Konka's exit has not caused losses. In addition, Konka continues to be one of the most important customers for Epistar. Epistar's Guangzhou plant began construction at the end of 2011 while the Xiamen joint venture is expected to begin production in September 2012. Source: www.digitimes.com