Did Apple order 30 million LCDs for iPad 2 from AU Optronics at 3-4x higher price?

If you haven’t heard of AU Optronics Corp, it’s the #4 LCD maker in the world. They’ve apparently landed a lucrative contract to produce flat panel screens for iPad 2, the rumor has it. We’re talking 30 million flat panel units in the next twelve months, which is said to take up over half the capacity of their fifth-generation Taichung plant located in central Taiwan.

Reuters reported this morning, quoting a story published by The Economic Daily News, that the company allegedly sold the panels to Apple at three to four times their regular asking price. Read on…

The rumored fact has gotten investors jump with joy, boosting the company’s stock six percent on the assumption that the purported Apple deal would boost AU Optronics’s fortunes significantly. I don’t know about you, but something’s fishy here. Apple usually squeezes lowest prices from its component suppliers who are privileged to sign Apple as a client, not the other way round.

Also, that report fails to mention sources. If the story is true, maybe those bleeding light problems and dead pixels we’ve been hearing from iPad 2 owners are wide-spread enough after all, prompting Apple to buy their flat panels elsewhere.