Samsung Electronics Co, the world's largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, and Sony Corp will invest US$2 billion to build the industry's biggest flat-panel production line.
The so-called eighth-generation facility is scheduled to begin mass production of panels for LCD televisions next year, Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung said in a statement, citing a preliminary agreement between the two companies today. Samsung and Sony plan to split the cost of the plant equally, which will be in South Korea, Samsung spokeswoman Chae Suyeon said.
Samsung, Sony and rival flat-panel display makers are expanding production as sports events such as soccer's World Cup tournament spur demand for televisions. LCD makers will probably increase spending on factories by 13 percent to US$11.6 billion this year, according to estimates by researcher DisplaySearch.
"It's a positive investment that will help them increase efficiency and take the offensive," said Naoki Fujiwara, who oversees about US$172 million in Japanese equities at Shinkin Asset Management Co in Tokyo. "Given the size of the investments needed for these next-generation factories, it's much wiser to team up and share the financial burden."
Shares of Samsung fell by 1.8 percent to 642,000 won (US$673) at the 3pm trading close in Seoul. Sony shares fell 1.2 percent to close at ?5,630 (US$47.5) in Tokyo, where the company is based.
Like semiconductor makers, LCD producers build bigger plants to cut production costs and keep up with declines in selling prices.
The factory, part of the S-LCD Corp venture the two companies set up in 2004, will cut panels out of glass sheets measuring 2.2m by 2.5m, according to the statement.
The scale of the glass sheet is bigger than Sharp Corp's eighth-generation plant, which said it plans to use glass sheets measuring 2.16m by 2.4m.
The dimensions will allow the Samsung-Sony production line to cut six 55-inch panels at a time, double the number at Sharp's eighth-generation factory in Kameyama city, central Japan, according to Yoshio Tamura, vice president at market researcher DisplaySearch.
The Sony-Samsung plant can also cut eight 47-inch panels, compared with six at Sharp's plant, according to Tamura.
Sharp, the world's largest maker of LCD TV sets last year, is spending about ?190 billion (US$1.6 billion) this fiscal year to build the eighth-generation plant and aims to begin production before October.
Other companies are also looking to expand. Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world's third-largest LCD maker, said last week it would buy smaller competitor Quanta Display Inc (
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)