Asahi Glass to Build the World's Largest Float Glass Furnace in Russia.

Tokyo, Japan, Mar 23, 2007 - (JCN Newswire) - Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (TSE: 5201) has decided to build an additional float glass furnace in Russia. To meet the local growing demand for glass, the Company will invest around 135 million euros to establish the world's largest furnace, with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes/day. This furnace is the fourth one that the Company group will have constructed in Russia. The construction is scheduled to begin from the second quarter of this year, and its volume production will start around the beginning of 2009.

AGC Group is currently a leading company in high-quality glass market in Russia. The subsidiary Glaverbel S.A. (Headquarters: Belgium) acquired Bor Glassworks, a Russian company, in 1997, to conduct business activities. In 2002, Glaverbel S.A. newly established Glaverbel Klin, started its volume production from 2005. The objectives of this investment are to meet the expanding demand for high-quality float glass and the growing needs for high value-added products such as mirrors and superinsulating Low-E glass, and reaffirm the number one position in the Russian market.

In addition, the company aims to utilize the current production system, know-how, and trained personnel, speed up the construction of the new furnace, and reduce costs, by building a furnace at Glaverbel Klin, which already has one float glass furnace.

Asahi Glass will continue to proactively operate business in fast growing markets where demand for its products is high, while providing higher quality and better services through global benchmarking.

Profile of Glaverbel S.A.

Corporate name:       Glaverbel S.A.
Head office:          Brussels, Belgium
Locations of plants:  Belgium, The Netherlands, Czech, France,
                      Spain, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Russia
Representative:       Jean-Francois Heris
Capital:              199 million euros (approx. 27.0 billion yen)
Shareholder:          Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (100%)
Products:             Float glass and processed glass for the
                      building sector and other specific industries
Establishment:        1961 (Asahi Glass entered into capital alliance
                       in 1981)
Number of employees:  Approximately 10,700 (as of December 2006)

About Asahi Glass

Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., is Japan's leading glass producer and one of the largest glassmakers in the world. It is top-ranked in the fields of flat-glass, cathode ray tubes and automobile glass, with glass products comprising approximately 60 percent of sales. Its chemical operations produce soda ash (used in making glass), caustic soda (used in producing chemical fibers and pulp), and other specialty chemicals. Asahi Glass' electronics division makes high-purity silicon carbide and synthetic quartz glass for semiconductors and glass substrates for such products as liquid crystal displays (LCDs). For more information, please visit www.asg.co.jp.

Source: Asahi Glass

Contact:

Shinichi Kawakami,
General Manager,
Corporate Communications & Investor Relations,
Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.
Tel: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]

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