Samsung, LG Rev Up Plasma Display Rivary

Jon · Korean Citizen Joined: Mar 19, 2004 Posts: 509

Samsung, LG Rev Up Plasma Display Rivary

By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
Samsung SDI and LG Electronics have been waging a cutthroat competition to claim the top spot in the world뭩 plasma display panel (PDP) markets.

LG Electronics moved fast as the company broke ground to build its fourth PDP production line in Kumi, North Kyongsang Province earlier this month.

The novel facility, which will churn out 144,000 panels per annum, will boost LG뭩 annual capacity to the world뭩 highest at 285,000 once it is completed in the second quarter of 2005.

Samsung SDI뭩 third PDP lines are currently under construction. The company seeks to lift up its capacity in order to outrival LG.

To ride high on the crest of the PDP wave, Samsung SDI seeks to frontload its investment for fourth lines possibly in Chonan, South Chungchong Province, to late this year from next year.

The plus 120,000-capacity fourth line will elevate Samsung뭩 annual production volume to as many as 400,000, making the firm surpass LG for the world뭩 peak spot.

``We originally planned to build the fourth line next year. But we decided to move up the schedule to the ease the global supply bottleneck,뮃 said a Samsung SDI spokesman.

Samsung SDI also started to roll out 42-inch PDP modules in the Shenzhen plant in China, one of its nine foreign-based factories, marking its first-ever PDP production abroad.

On the back of the brisk investment, experts forecast the nation뭩 display giant duo will climb the ladder in the world market, outshining the perennial leader FHP.

The peak place of the world뭩 PDP market has belonged to the Japanese firm of the 50-50 joint venture start-up between Fujitsu and Hitachi, with a 21 percent market share last year, according to Merrill Lynch.

However, the brokerage predicted LG and Samsung SDI will simply outpace FHP this year with comfortable margins of almost double digits.

Merrill Lynch estimated Samsung SDI will carve out 24 percent of the PDP market this year followed by LG Electronics� 23 percent. In comparison, FHP was projected to slide to just 15 percent.

``The market consensus is that Samsung and LG will outshine FHP in the near term. The only question is when it will happen,뮃 said Michael Min, an analyst from Dongwon Securities.

Despite the rosy prospects, however, there remain a few impediments en route to the genuine world뭩 summit like patent disputes especially for Samsung.

Japan뭩 customs authorities last month suspended the imports of Samsung SDI liquid crystal display (LCD) modules in response to Fujitsu뭩 claim that the Seoul-based firm infringed on its patents and the case is now under investigation.

PDP is the main component of plasma-display television sets, one of the most rapidly growing segments of the flat-screen television market along with LCD panel TVs.

Industry research institute Displaysearch predicted the PDP market will expand to around $11 billion by 2007 from last year뭩 $2.4 billion.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr