Nippon Sheet Glass will start a new line worth US$123 million that makes ultra thin glass used for smartphone screens at its facility in Vietnam by the middle of this year, the Japanese manufacturer announced Monday.

The new line is scheduled to begin output in June, and will “commence production from the second half of this fiscal year,” according to an announcement posted on Nippon Sheet Glass’s website.

The 2014 fiscal year is from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015.

It is situated within the site of NSG Vietnam Special Glass Ltd, a subsidiary wholly owned by Nippon Sheet Glass, in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, some 100km south of Ho Chi Minh City.

The new investment brings the number of Nippon Sheet Glass’s lines dedicated to Ultra Fine Flat glass (UFF) to two – one in Japan and one in Vietnam, the company said.

The investment is worth 13 billion yen (US$123 million), according to Nikkei Asian Review, an English-language publication that covers insights on business in Asia.

The new line will produce 0.5- to 1mm glass, suitable for the touch sensor substrates and protective screens of smartphones and tablet computers and made exclusively by Nippon Sheet Glass in Japan, the Nikkei Asian Review reported.

However, once the new Vietnam project is launched, the Japanese company will focus on cutting-edge offerings of 0.5mm and slimmer glass.

Nippon Sheet Glass aims to leverage its low-cost production in Vietnam to make inroads into Southeast Asia as demand for mobile devices are expanding rapidly in the region and China.

The new line in Vietnam is also expected to improve production efficiency and double the company's global capacity for ultra-thin glass, according to Nikkei Asian Review.

The Nippon Sheet Glass is the world-leading supplier of ultra-thin glass for small LCD applications.

Its UFF products are increasingly being used in the growing touch panel market and cover glass (soda lime composition) in computers and mobile devices.

NSG Vietnam Special Glass Ltd was established in June 2011 and operates one line dedicated to UFF production.

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