Taiwan-based polarizer maker BenQ Materials aims to become a top-three supplier worldwide and is actively expanding its capacity including purchasing two production lines and renting a production plant at the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) from Optimax Technology, according to company president TY Lin.

Lin indicated that BenQ Materials started with optical discs and moved towards material science in 2005. Polarizers are now the major business of BenQ Materials, accounting for almost 90% of the company's revenues, Lin added.

With demand for large-size LCD panels expected to increase 24% per year in 2009-2010, BenQ Materials is actively expanding its capacity. Lin said that BenQ Materials currently has polarizer production lines up with a width up to 2,000 mm, and can mass produce 1.5- to 65-inch polarizers for TVs, monitors and notebooks. BenQ Materials is expected to start mass production of polarizers with larger viewing angles and low chromatic polarization in the first half of 2011.

In order to fulfill market demand, BenQ Materials purchased two polarizer production lines at the STSP from Optimax. Lin noted that BenQ ranked fourth in the global polarizer market in 2009 with 9.6% share and expects to increase its share to 12% in 2010.

Nitto Denko accounted for 29% of the global polarizer market in 2009, followed by Sumitomo Chemical with 20% and LG Chemical with 19.7%. In 2010, Nitto Denko is expected to account for 26.3% of the global polarizer market, LG Chemical 20.5% and Sumitomo Chemical 17% in 2010.