AU Optronics

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AU Optronics Corporation
Type	Public (NYSE: AUO)
Founded	1996 (as Acer Display Technology, Inc.)
Headquarters	Hsinchu, Taiwan
Key people	Kuen-Yao Lee, Chairman
Industry	Computer peripherals
Revenue	▲$14.8 billion USD (2007)
Employees	43,000
Website	auo.com

AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) (traditional Chinese: 友達光電) is one of the top 3 worldwide manufacturers of thin film transistor liquid crystal display panels (TFT LCD), and is the largest in Taiwan. The company was formed in September 2001 by the merger of Acer Display Technology, Inc.,(the predecessor of AUO, established in 1996) and Unipac Optoelectronics Corporation. In October 2006, AUO merged with Quanta Display Inc. to create a larger TFT-LCD manufacturer with 20% of the world's large-sized TFT-LCD market, forming the company as of today. AUO provides panels for several leading LCD manufacturers, including BenQ, Apple, and ViewSonic.

AUO provides customers a full range of panel sizes and comprehensive applications, offering TFT-LCD panels in sizes ranging from 1.5 inches to greater than 65 inches. AUO generated US$14.8 billion in sales revenue in 2007 and now houses the staff of over 43,000 employees throughout its global operations spreading across Taiwan, the US, Japan, Europe, South Korea, Singapore,the Netherlands and China. Additionally, AUO is the first pure TFT-LCD manufacturer to successfully list at the New York Stock Exchange. In 2004, AUO was ranked 17th in Business Week's "Global IT Companies".

AUO is the first TFT-LCD manufacturer in Taiwan to mass produce TFT-LCD panels by means of G3.5, G4, G5, G6 and G7.5 fabrications. AUO is the top manufacturer of large-sized TFT-LCD panels in the world with a market share of 20.0%^[1]. AUO's LCD Monitor TFT-LCD is ranked No. 2, notebook PC TFT-LCD ranked No. 3, and LCD TV TFT-LCD ranked No. 1 in terms of global market share. As for small-to-medium sized applications, AUO's digital video camera TFT-LCD is ranked No. 2, digital still camera TFT-LCD is ranked third, while general AV TFT-LCD is ranked second in global market share^[2].