Samsung, LG.Philips LCD Enjoy Boom, Eye Taiwan Moves (Update2)
By Ian King
03/27 22:43
quote.bloomberg.com
Seoul, March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co. and LG.Philips LCD Co., the two largest makers of flat-panel displays, say prices are starting to recoup last year's 45 percent decline. Now, they are asking whether their Taiwanese rivals will spoil the party -- again.
``We hope they find some way not to repeat last year's situation,'' when prices fell by about half after six Taiwan firms opened factories, said Cho Yeong Dok, a top executive in Samsung Electronic's flat-panel division.
Samsung and LG.Philips, a venture between Europe's biggest and Korea's No. 2 electronics firms, have long contended the world is flat. Their screens are thinner and lighter than cathode-ray tubes and are expected to be the standard for high-definition TVs, which some predict may be widespread by 2005.
Cho's comments, however, underline concern that companies in the $10 billion industry are about to misjudge the market again. Korean firms may be just as much to blame: this year, Samsung and LG.Philips are opening so-called fifth-generation plants that can make as many as 16 laptop-size screens per glass sheet, compared with a maximum of six previously.
Samsung and LG.Philips say demand is overwhelming. Samsung can fill only 70 percent of the orders it's receiving these days, and is speeding up equipping its new plant which will churn out 30,000 of the larger glass sheets per month by October, Cho said. |
