t’s said that Samsung LED has decided to team up with Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical to build a sapphire ingot plant in Daegu.

They plan to break the ground in the 11,000 square meter site on April 20, with the target date for completion in coming October. According to their plan, the plant is going to begin production next year.

The joint venture’s capacity is expected to reach 100,000 sheets of four inch ingot a month, which translates into five million sheets of two inch ingot a year.
 
If additional investments are made as planned, the capacity is expected to surge to 20 million sheets a year by 2015, a four-fold increase compared to the forecast for next year.