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By: Richard Del Cazzo
Web site: http://www.hdtv-hdtv.com
Samsung plasma display and LG Electronics have
been waging a cutthroat competition to claim the top spot
in the worlds plasma display panel (PDP) markets.
LG Electronics moved fast as the company broke ground to
build its fourth PDP production line in Kumi, North Kyongsang
Province earlier this month.
The novel facility, which will churn out 144,000 panels
per annum, will boost LG's annual capacity to the world's
highest at 285,000 once it is completed in the second quarter
of 2005.
Samsung plasma display third PDP lines are currently under
construction. The company seeks to lift up its capacity in
order to outrival LG.
To ride high on the crest of the PDP wave, Samsung SDI seeks
to frontload its investment for fourth lines possibly in Chonan,
South Chungchong Province, to late this year from next year.
The plus 120,000-capacity fourth line will elevate Samsung
plasma display annual production volume to as many as 400,000,
making the firm surpass LG for the world's peak spot.
We originally planned to build the fourth line next year.
But we decided to move up the schedule to the ease the global
supply bottleneck said a Samsung plasma display spokesman.
Samsung plasma displays also started to roll out 42-inch
PDP modules in the Shenzhen plant in China, one of its nine
foreign-based factories, marking its first-ever PDP production
abroad.
On the back of the brisk investment, experts forecast the
nations display giant duo will climb the ladder in the world
market, outshining the perennial leader FHP.
The peak place of the world's PDP market has belonged to
the Japanese firm of the 50-50 joint venture start-up between
Fujitsu and Hitachi, with a 21 percent market share last year,
according to Merrill Lynch.
However, the brokerage predicted LG and Samsung SDI will
simply outpace FHP this year with comfortable margins of almost
double digits.
Merrill Lynch estimated Samsung plasma displayss will carve
out 24 percent of the PDP market this year followed by LG
Electronics 23 percent. In comparison, FHP was projected to
slide to just 15 percent.
The market consensus is that Samsung and LG will outshine
FHP in the near term. The only question is when it will happen
said Michael Min, an analyst from Dongwon Securities.
Despite the rosy prospects, however, there remain a few impediments
en route to the genuine world's summit like patent disputes
especially for Samsung plasma display.
Japans customs authorities last month suspended the imports
of Samsung SDI liquid crystal display (LCD) modules in response
to Fujitsu¡'s claim that the Seoul-based firm infringed
on its patents and the case is now under investigation.
PDP is the main component of plasma-display television sets,
one of the most rapidly growing segments of the flat-screen
television market along with LCD panel TVs.
Industry research institute Display search predicted the
PDP market will expand to around $11 billion by 2007 from
last years $2.4 billion.
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