Chi Mei Corporation Explained

CHIMEI Corporation
奇美實業
Type:Corporation
Founder:Shi Wen-long
Location:Rende, Tainan, Taiwan
Key People:Shi Wen-long (Founder)
Hsu Chun-hua (Chairman)
Zhao Lingyu (General Manager)
Industry:Petrochemical
Products:Plastics, Synthetic Rubbers, Electronic Materials, Specialty Chemicals

CHIMEI Corporation (; CMC) is a Taiwan-based performance materials company. It has long been known as the world’s largest vendor of ABS resins. It also produces advanced polymer materials, synthetic rubbers, and specialty chemicals. It has factories in Tainan, Zhenjiang, and Zhangzhou.

CHIMEI Corporation is part of a privately held holding company called the CHIMEI Group, which has numerous subsidiaries. One of them is Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), which was founded in 1997 as a subsidiary of Chi Mei Corporation. Chi Mei Group was the largest shareholder in publicly listed CMO. The new Chimei Innolux Corporation (CMI) is the world's No. 2 and Taiwan's No. 1 largest maker of TFT-LCD panels[1] and the likely owner of Westinghouse Digital Electronics. Though CEO Douglas Woo has maintained the confidentiality of the ownership of the private Westinghouse licensee, they admit a significant vertically integrated relationship exists between the two.[2] CHIMEI has sold Innolux shares; its stake in Innolux has fallen to 0.83 percent in Oct. 2021.[3]

CHIMEI has a partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation of Japan.

History

The company was founded by Shi Wen-long in 1960 as Chi Mei Industrial Company Ltd.; it was renamed CHIMEI Corporation in 1992. It was the first acrylic sheet manufacturer in Taiwan.[4]

In 2001, the CHIMEI Group along with IBM Japan set up International Display Technology, which it subsequently sold to Sony in 2005.[5] [6] Hsu Wen-lung retired in 2005, allegedly under pressure from the Chinese government.[7]

In 2010, CHIMEI Optoelectronics, then a subsidiary of CHIMEI Corporation, pleaded guilty to a price fixing conspiracy with respect to sales of TFT-LCDs between 2001 and 2006.[8]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Plastics News - More News . 2007-09-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090508154402/http://www.plasticsnews.com/china/english/headlines-arc2.html?id=1124126000 . 2009-05-08 . dead .
  2. http://www.emasiamag.com/article-341-consumerelectronicstheclonewars-Asia.html Consumer Electronics: The Clone Wars
  3. Web site: 2021-10-05 . Chi Mei posts loss after selling Innolux shares . 2021-10-08 . Taipei Times.
  4. Chi Mei Corporation. Chi Mei profile
  5. News: Wang . Lisa . 2005-01-08 . Chi Mei to sell Japanese unit to Sony . . 2009-03-20.
  6. Sony to Acquire IDTech's Yasu LCD Manufacturing Facility . Sony . 2005-01-07 . 2009-03-20 .
  7. Web site: China authorities search Hon Hai offices . 23 October 2023 . .
  8. Web site: Taiwan LCD Producer Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay $220 Million Fine for Participating in LCD Price-Fixing Conspiracy. 9 December 2009.