Qualcomm's $2 billion investment in Taiwan

Taiwan media reported that Qualcomm’s Qualcomm MEMS Technologies plans to invest US$2 billion to establish a 4.5-line Mirasol display production plant in the Longtan District, Taichung Science and Technology Park.

The installation of the plant is expected to begin in October next year. It will mainly produce 5.7-inch color screens, and mass production will wait until early 2012.

According to sources, Qualcomm is the exclusive investor of the plant project, and Qualcomm hopes to expand the Mirasol display application market through licensing.

The Mirasol display works by reflecting ambient light, rather than color filters, so no backlight is required. The Mirasol technology controls the light that shines on the display, using subtle mechanisms to make one pixel one pixel to reflect the desired color. It is this use of ambient light, rather than relying on the characteristics of the backlight, making it more energy-efficient than LCD display technology, with low power consumption known black and white e-paper is also slightly inferior.

According to industry sources, Qualcomm has already provided its customers with 5.7-inch Mirasol color screen samples, and one of its major customers has already started the development of its products.

Qualcomm has already established a 4.5-line Mirasol color-screen production plant in Longtan with Taiwan Zhengyi. The latter successfully produced a 5.7-inch Mirasol color screen in April this year.