Taiwan-based notebook maker Compal Electronics has announced will spend NT$1.4 billion (US$47.67 million) to acquire Chunghwa Picture Tubes' (CPT's) 4.5G color filter (CF) plant via its wholly-owned subsidiary HengHao Technology, and company spokesperson Gary Lu has pointed out that the plant will be used for Compal's tablet PC products in the short term. With assistance from the subsidiary, Compal will be able to shorten its R&D time for tablet PCs, while strengthen the device's competitiveness.

Lu pointed out that the subsidiary's new 4.5G production line is capable of producing 70,000 touch panels every month and the company plans to cut these panels into either 7-inch or 10-inch sizes depending on market demand.

Lu also noted that the company's tablet PC business is unlikely to contribute a significant amount of revenues in 2011 despite that the company has already landed several orders. He also believes that tablet PC software platforms need some time to mature, which will help iPad to continue to lead the market.

Although Compal did not comment on its tablet PC clients, market watchers pointed out that Acer, Dell and Toshiba are currently all cooperating with Compal for tablet PCs and the company has a chance of shipping two million tablet PCs in 2011.

Compal's subsidiary that will acquire CPT's CF plant, was established earlier in December with its executive team formed by top officials from both Compal and CPT.

In addition to its cooperation with CPT, Compal also established a notebook panel joint venture with Korea-based LG Electronics , and has a subsidiary focusing on manufacturing small- to medium-size touch panels for smartphones. Meanwhile, the company also recently formed an IC design joint venture with IC designer Sitronix Technology for developing touch controllers and power management ICs for tablet PCs.