May 4 2004
LG Electronics Inc., the world's third largest maker of plasma displays, will invest US$568 million to boost production of the panels, more than half its full-year spending.
LG Electronics is building a new plant to make panels as big as 50 inches (127 centimeters) diagonally, to try to catch Japan's Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Ltd. and local rival Samsung SDI Co. LG Electronics will add 1,500 workers making 120,000 more displays a month, generating $700 million in annual exports by 2006, said a commerce ministry statement in Seoul.
Display makers are betting more consumers will accelerate purchases of plasma televisions to replace tube-based sets that have smaller screens. Samsung SDI aims to double capital spending this year to 1.1 trillion won to overtake top supplier Fujitsu Hitachi, which said it will spend 75 billion yen ($669 million) on a new factory to boost output.
Global revenue from plasma displays, used in the biggest flat-screen televisions, jumped to $1.87 billion in the first quarter, compared with $1.01 billion a year earlier, El Segundo, California-based Isuppli said in a quarterly report this month. Shipments more than doubled to 477,000 units from 207,000 screens a year earlier, it said.
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