LG Electronics Inc, the world’s second-largest maker of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions, aims to boost its market share this year by introducing new models.
The electronics maker is targeting to capture a more than 16 percent share of all televisions sold worldwide this year, Havis Kwon, head of the company’s TV division, told reporters in Seoul yesterday. LG had a share of about 12 percent last year, according to Seye Im, a company spokesman.
LG introduced its first 3D TV that uses a new technology yesterday as part of a plan to gain market share this year and narrow the gap with market leader Samsung Electronics Co to as little as 3 percentage points, Kwon said. TV manufacturers are adding features such as 3D functionality and Web-based services to revive sales by luring consumers to replace their old models.
Shipments of LCD TVs in the US probably fell last year for the first time amid weak economic indicators such as consumer confidence and unemployment, IHS ISuppli, a research company in El Segundo, California, said in December.
LG aims to sell 40 million units of flat-screen TVs this year, the electronics maker’s parent company said on Dec. 28, without providing a figure for last year. Samsung, the world’s top TV maker, previously said it’s targeting sales of 45 million flat-panel TVs this year.
Samsung had an 18 percent market share of the global TV market at the end of September, according to Nam Ki Yung, a company spokesman.
LG is introducing 3D TVs using its latest Film Patterned Retarder, or FPR, technology featuring the use of glasses that it says are lighter, more comfortable and lead to less eye strain.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure