Samsung Electronics Co, the world's largest television maker, said sales of flat-panel TVs would increase more than 40 percent to 21 million sets this year on increased demand for bigger screens and better picture quality.
Shipments of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TVs will increase to 18 million this year and plasma models will rise to 3 million, Samsung said in a statement yesterday, citing Park Jong-woo, head of the company's digital media business.
Samsung sold 13 million LCD TVs last year, the Suwon, South Korea-based firm said, without providing figures for plasma TV sales.
Samsung follows LG Electronics Inc, the world's third-largest TV maker in boosting targets for flat-panel TV shipments for this year as the two manufacturers focus on producing sets measuring at least 40 inches diagonally with full high-definition screens.
LG Electronics on Monday forecast its flat-panel TV sales would almost double this year to 17 million sets with shipments of LCD TVs increasing to 14 million and plasma TV sets rising to 3 million.
Samsung projects global LCD TV sales to rise 30 percent this year, less than the 58 percent growth last year, it said in the statement yesterday.
The company also predicts that total global flat-panel TV shipments would reach 108 million units this year.
Global LCD TV shipments will rise 33 percent to 94.7 million this year, while plasma TVs will increase 26 percent to 13.1 million, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co estimates.
Flat-screen models measuring 40 inches to 47 inches accounted for almost a third of global TV revenue in the third quarter, Austin, Texas-based researcher DisplaySearch forecast.
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
TRIP TO TAIWAN: The resumption of group tours from China should be discussed between the two agencies tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday reassured China-based businesspeople that he would follow former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy to facilitate healthy and orderly exchanges with Beijing and build a resilient economy. “As president, I have three missions. First, I will follow president Tsai’s ‘four commitments’ to ensure that the country continues to exist and survive,” Lai told participants at a Lunar New Year event in Taipei hosted by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). Lai said his second mission is to uphold the “four pillars of peace” by bolstering national defense, developing a growing and resilient economy, building partnerships with
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his