While its Japanese rivals are planning to pull away from the LCD display manufacturing business, as reported today, Korea's LG Is making moves to bring more of its LCD manufacturing capability in-house.
It's announced that, after a period of test-operation since June this year, its LG Chemicals division is set to start manufacturing of its own glass substrates for LCD TV panels from the first half of next year at its huge LCD Display complex in Paju, S Korea, pictured above.
The glass will be in the form of 8th-generation sheets, each measuring 2.16x2.4m and able to yield eight 40in TV panels or six 50in, and with this first line due to start production, the company is already planning two lines in the second half of next year, with an investment of W800bn (£450m).
In the long term, it intends to invest W3tn (£1.7bn) in the construction of seven glass manufacturing facilities, giving an annual capacity of 50m sq m.
The move is seen as part of a policy of bringing as much of the production for core components in-house, reducing costs and insulating the company against fluctuations in the price of raw materials.
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