Sampo Corp (聲寶) plans to unveil a locally produced LCD television set next month -- one of a range of new gadgets meant to draw consumers back to high-tech products.
The new, flat LCD televisions feature high-resolution 15-inch screens on a thin unit that can be mounted on a wall or set on a stand.
Sampo executives said the new TVs are made for Taiwanese consumers using domestic components. The company controls 30 percent of the Taiwan market for traditional TV sets.
The new TVs include 15-inch LCD screens commonly found in computer monitors, driver chips and other parts. Sampo also expects to introduce 17- and 20-inch models later this year.
Sampo Technology Inc (
As LCD screens attract more buyers, prices should come down, analysts said. That in turn will help make LCD screens a mass-market product.
Televisions that use LCDs should benefit from this trend.
Manufacturing LCD screens has become a commodity business, with prices fluctuating according to market demand and the amount of screens produced.
With LCD screens increasingly being bundled with personal computers, volume manufacturing will help drive prices down and make consumer-oriented products such as LCD television sets less expensive, analysts said.
The production of LCD screens is a major business in Taiwan. The Market Intelligence Center (
Last year, Taiwan accounted for 28 percent of global LCD screen production. The figure was 47 percent for South Korea and 24.8 percent for Japan.
The Market Intelligence Center said US$3.5 billion of the money Taiwan is expected to bring in on LCD sales will come from standard 14- and 15-inch panels.
No companies in Taiwan currently produce screens used in TVs 17 inches in size or larger.
The smaller screen size is why Sampo's LCD television will be sold for NT$40,000 -- far less than the one sold by Japan-based Sharp.
Sharp's 17-inch screen LCD TV is priced at NT$59,000. The company sold 300 units last year.
One Sampo executive doubted his company could meet its monthly sales target.
"In Taiwan, I think the market is not ready," said Polar Hsieh (
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