Taipei, Oct. 26, 2009 (CENS)--Nan Ya Photonics Inc. (NPI), a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group, will form a strategic alliance with Epistar Corp., a major epitaxy manufacturer, which will buy into the former and provide it technological support, marking a stride for FPG in its effort to tap the LED (light emitting diode) market.

The alliance will be a profound one, which may also involve acquisition of stake by NPI in Epistar or the setup of a joint venture. Epistar is the world`s second largest maker of expitaxy, an upstream component for LED lighting, while NIP, produces high-brightness LED wafers and chips.

An official of Epistar pointed out that the alliance with NIP means the addition of a business partner and the minus of a rival. An FPG official noted that the alliance was initiated by Epistar and accepted by FPG after careful evaluation.

This is the second business tie entered by NPI this year, following the acquisition of the largest stake in Precision Silicon Corp. (PSC), another major expitaxy maker, in April this year. Early this month, it further joined hands with PSC and Yulon Group in setting up a LED lighting company, which targets the Chinese market.

The alliance further manifests FPG`s aggressive plan for the green-energy market; the group has announced plan to invest NT$40 billion in the solar-energy sector and is actively developing Li-Fe (lithium-iorn) battery technology.

(by Philip Liu)