Corning to Cut Wholly Owned Glass Capacity 30-40 Percent

Corning (GLW) plans to cut the production capacity of its wholly owned glass business by 30-40 percent in response to a slowdown in the LCD television market, CFO Jim Flaws said this morning in an interview with Tech Trader Daily on the company’s disappointing fourth-quarter outlook.

Flaws noted that the company has been operating with a “conundrum in the LCD business” for most of the year: While there have been constant fears about the economy, LCD demand through most of the summer remained strong. But he notes that after Labor Day, weekly data have shown a decline in LCD TV sales at retail. Flaws says the combination of rising unemployment, low consumer confidence and weak financial markets has lead people to “retreat” on LCD television spending. He says unit growth is still positive, but nowhere near the 37 percent level seen in the first eight months of the year.

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