Seoul, South Korea — Samsung Electronics announced plans to double the original production capacity of an LCD-TV factory it is building in Tangjeong, Korea.
The factory will be used to produce additional 40W-inch and 46W-inch screen sizes at more affordable prices.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s rival LG.Philips LCD operation announced plans to construct a new “back-end” LCD module factory in Poland, in an attempt to bring LCD production closer to the European market.
Samsung said it expects to spend $1.71 billion on a second phase for the new factory. The first phase of construction will cost approximately $2.31 billion, Samsung said.
First-phase of manufacturing at the new plant is expected to begin in April, and should reach a capacity of 45,000-sheets of mother glass per month August 2006.
Meanwhile, LG.Philips said it would build a back-end LCD module production plant in Wroclaw, a city in southern Poland, becoming the first global LCD industry player to start such production in Europe.
LG.Philips LCD plans to establish a company in Poland in September 2005, and will break ground for the plant in the first half of 2006 and start production in the first half of 2007 with an initial capacity of 3 million modules per year, the company said.
The plant is expected to reach its design capacity of 11 million units per year by 2011.
The plant will produce primarily moderate to large widescreen panels in the 26W-inch, 32W-inch, 37W-inch and 42W-inch screen sizes. It will also produce PC monitors in screen sizes of 19-inches and above.
