UPDATE: Asahi Glass To Ride Smartphone, Tablet Wave With New Glass

Asahi Glass Co. (5201.TO) aims to grab a 30% share of the booming market for cover glass used in smartphones, tablet computers and other electronic devices, seeing the consumer segment spearheaded by devices such as Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone and iPad as a likely "pillar of growth".

The Japanese company said it expects to generate at least Y30 billion in sales in 2012 from its durable "Dragontrail" brand of glass, unveiled on Thursday, which the company says is six-times stronger than conventional soda-lime glass used in windows and bottles.

Cover glass is used as the outermost layer in screens for electronic devices--its job is to protect more delicate components such as touchscreens and liquid crystal display panels from damage.

Dragontrail glass "is a special type of glass that meets the needs of smartphones and other new electronic devices," said Asahi Glass Chief Executive Kazuhiko Ishimura at a press conference. "We are expecting it to become one of the pillars of our growth."

Barclays Capital projects global shipments of smartphones in 2012 to reach 500 million units, nearly double last year's 274 million, and also forecasts tablet shipments to surge to Y57 million units in 2012, more than triple last year's 16 million.

But Asahi is likely to meet fierce competition to supply glass for these devices. Corning Inc. (GLW) of the U.S., the world's largest LCD glass maker, is aggressively seeking a broader client base for its "Gorilla" brand of tough, scratch-resistant glass, already used as cover sheets in various mobile devices, including Samsung Electronics Co.'s (005930.SE) Galaxy Tab tablet.

A spokesman for Nippon Electric Glass Co. (5214.TO), Asahi's Japanese rival, said the company is currently developing a new type of glass that can compete against Corning's Gorilla and Asahi's Dragontrail.

"The Dragontrail will be able to match any other product in the market," said Nozomu Taguchi, senior executive officer in Asahi's electronics glass general division. At a press conference, the company showed video clips of its experiments to test Dragontrail's strength by hitting it with a hammer.

The company said that the Dragontrail is already used in some mobile gadgets, although it declined to say which ones.

Asahi's sales target of Y30 billion for next year is modest compared to the company's revenue forecast of Y1.280 trillion for 2010, said SMBC Friend Research Center analyst Naoki Yokota. Still, given the rapid growth of smartphone and tablet markets, "this segment could become one of the main revenue drivers for Asahi Glass in a few years," he said.

-By Juro Osawa, Dow Jones Newswires; 813 6269 2794; juro.osawa@dowjones.com

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