PT LG Astra to invest $400m in new plant
PT LG Astra to invest $400m in new plant
JAKARTA (JP): PT LG Astra Electronics announced its plan yesterday to invest US$400 million in a plant which will produce television color picture tubes and computer monitor color display tubes.
LG Astra Electronics, which is 51 percent owned by PT Astra International and 49 percent by LG Electronics of South Korea, formerly operated under the name PT Goldstar Astra.
The company introduced its new name, LG Astra Electronics, at a reception at the Sahid Puri Agung Convention Hall here yesterday evening.
The company said the new color picture tube plant will be built on a 30-hectare plot in the MM 2100 industrial estate in Karawang, West Java.
It added that the full development of the tube plant would take up a total investment of $400 million, of which $300 million would be laid out in the first stage.
LG Astra's existing factory in Tangerang, West Java, produces TV sets, washing machines, air conditioners, freezers and refrigerators.
The company added that it would also invest an additional $5 million to increase its production capacity of audio video in the Tangerang factory.
"Most of our products are for the local market," a company executive said.
He said the local content of the electronic products, which ranges from between 15 percent to 50 percent, comes from hundreds of local vendors.
The Indonesian-Korean joint venture changed its name following the name change of its Korean partner, Lucky Goldstar Group, into LG.
LG Electronics, which itself is one of the 22 subsidiaries which make up the Seoul-based LG Group, is a worldwide company with production units and affiliates spread out in 120 countries.
The joint venture has established its distribution company, PT Graha Kartika Kencana, as the sole distributor of the products.
LG Electronics, in a bid to expand its international market share, has acquired the Zenith TV manufacturer in the United States and developed what it calls thin-film, transistor-liquid crystal display. (kod)