LG. Philips builds $21b LCD plant<\/p>\n
Lim Chang-Won, Agence France-Presse, Seoul<\/p>\n
LG.Philips LCD unveiled a US$21 billion investment plan on
\nThursday as the world's largest flat panel screen manufacturer
\nheld a ground-breaking ceremony for its new plant.<\/p>\n
The joint venture between South Korea's LG Electronics and
\nDutch group Royal Philips Electronics NV said 25 trillion won
\n($21 billion) would be poured into flat panel displays in the
\nnext 10 years.<\/p>\n
The plan was announced as LG.Philips held a gala ceremony, led
\nby Prime Minister Goh Kun, for the construction of its new LCD
\n(liquid crystal display) plant in Paju, 30 kilometers (18 miles)
\nnorth of Seoul.<\/p>\n
The plant, near the heavily fortified inter-Korean border,
\nwill help South Korea secure a firm competitive edge in the
\nsector, said Goh, who serves as interim leader after President
\nRoh Moo-Hyun was impeached and suspended from office last week.<\/p>\n
The plant is within artillery range of North Korea, which has
\neased the military confrontation with South Korea to boost
\neconomic exchanges since a landmark inter-Korean summit in 2002.<\/p>\n
\"The government has a masterplan to develop this area as an
\nadvanced base for inter-Korean economic cooperation,\" he said in
\na statement.<\/p>\n
Goh also said his government would nurture the LCD industry as
\none of South Korea's new growth engines to help firms head off
\nchallenges from competitors in Taiwan and China.<\/p>\n
He said the government would build a 1.65 million-square meter
\ncomplex around the plant to serve as a global hi-tech base with
\nthe world's largest LCD research and development center.<\/p>\n
Goh said the government would offer free roads and other
\nincentives, describing the plant as the first government-
\ncorporate joint project since Roh took office in early 2003.<\/p>\n
Major LCD makers have been increasing capacity to meet booming
\ndemand for flat-screen televisions and computer monitors to
\nreplace traditional cathode ray tube screens.<\/p>\n
Samsung signed a contract last week with Japan's Sony Corp. to
\nbuild a $1.78 billion joint venture plant for flat panel
\ntelevisions in Tangjeong, 100 kilometers south of Seoul.<\/p>\n
Samsung officials say the partnership will help the world's
\ntop microchip maker strengthen its position in the world's fast-
\ngrowing flat panel market.<\/p>\n
LG.Philips and rival Samsung Electronics led a 61 percent
\nsurge in global shipments of LCDs in the fourth quarter of last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
LG.Philips, which took up the largest share of the TFT-LCD
\nmarket with 21 percent last year, said the Paju plant would be
\nput into operation in the first half of 2006 focusing on 42-inch
\nor larger flat panels.<\/p>\n
\"We plan to develop the Paju region into a core site for the
\nTFT-LCD industry,\" LG.Philips vice chairman Koo Bon-June said in
\na statement.<\/p>",
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