Samsung, Sony set up joint venture

Samsung, Sony set up joint venture

SEOUL: South Korean microchip giant Samsung Electronics will
announce a major joint venture deal with Japan's Sony Corp. in
flat panel operations, officials said.

Samsung said the US$1.8 billion deal will be formally
announced at 0600 GMT (01:00 p.m. Jakarta time).

"The deal will help Samsung maintain its global leadership,
while Sony will secure a supply of flat panels for televisions
and computers," a Samsung official said.

Newspapers said the 50-50 joint venture would be established
in South Korea to produce large, seventh-generation liquid
crystal display (LCD) panels as early as 2004.

The deal would allow Sony, the world's largest consumer
electronics maker, and Samsung to lead the way towards
standardizing the global TV monitor format.

So far, Sony has procured all its LCD panels from Japanese
firms and market leader LG-Philips LCD, a joint venture between
South Korea's LG Electronics and Dutch group Philips Electronics.

Besides using them in their own televisions, Sony, the world's
leading TV manufacturer, and Samsung plan to sell them to other
companies, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. --AFP