Panel maker now flourishes, but jobs may move to China

“If Hydis had tried to stay independent, the company could not have turned in last year’s outstanding performance,” Choi Byong-doo, chief executive officer of BOE Hydis, told a press conference yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the company. The maker of thin film transistor-liquid crystal display panels was among the first high-tech Korean companies to be acquired by a Chinese firm, Beijing Orient Electronics Group in this case. Addressing criticism over potential outflow of technologies to China, Mr. Choi said, “The expansion of China’s high-tech industries should not be seen negatively.” Beijing Orient Electronics acquired the flat-panel manufacturing subsidiary of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. last year. The sale stirred outrage over the transfer of advanced technologies to China and the “hollowing out” of manufacturing industries here. BOE Hydis accounted for 60 percent of the sales of Beijing Orient Electronics Group last year; the Korean firm had 800 billion won ($686 million) in sales and 100 billion won in operating profits. “In Shanghai now, NEC Corp. of Japan and SVA Group of China are building a fifth-generation TFT-LCD plant,” Mr. Choi said. “There are companies other than us that are willing to provide technology to China. And high-tech industrial parks are being set up in China would give opportunities for domestic equipment producers to enter China.” But the critics may still have a point. Capitalizing on BOE Hydis’ technology, the Chinese company is building a fifth-generation flat-panel manufacturing plant near Beijing on 660,000 square meters (163 acres) of land. The company will also build sixth- and seventh-generation production lines on the site, called BOE Display Technology Park. Another area of a similar size will be developed for the company’s suppliers and equipment producers. A company spokesman said that display panels would continue to be produced in Korea, but only smaller ones ― “high-end smaller ones,” he hastened to say. Research and development will stay in Korea, although it appears that most of the manufacturing jobs will eventually be moved. by Lee Hyun-sang