Samsung, Sony Adding To TFT-LCD Capacity

With worldwide demand for LCD televisions increasing, Samsung Electronics Ltd. and Sony Corp. have agreed to establish a second, eighth-generation amorphous TFT-LCD manufacturing line (“8-2 line”) through their joint venture, S-LCD Corp. The 8-2 line will be built at the Tangjeong Complex, with production slated to start in the second quarter of 2009.

Production capacity for the new line is expected to be 60,000 sheets per month initially (on a substrate glass input basis). The substrate glass from this line will be 2,000 by 2,500 mm. The total investment for the 8-2 line will be about 1.8 trillion KRW (Korean Won)—approximately $1.9 billion or 200 billion Japanese yen—to be invested by S-LCD.

S-LCD was established in April 2004 to manufacture and supply TFT-LCD panels to Samsung and Sony. It started operating its seventh-generation line in April 2005 and its first eighth-generation line in August 2007.

Samsung
www.samsung.com

Sony
www.sony.com