November 8, 2004 – LG Electronics will equip 30% of its liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions with Taiwan-made panels this year and is planning to team up with Taiwanese suppliers to produce the TVs next year, according to the South Korea electronic giant’s executives, said the China Economic News Service.
Taiwan’s industry watchers analyzed that chances for Taiwanese suppliers to cooperate with LG would remain high after the LG’s recent procurement and investment plans on grounds that competition among LG, Samsung, and Sony in the digital-TV market is growing intensive.
LG planned to diversify supply sources for the 9 million own-branded LCD monitors it will ship throughout this year. To follow the strategy, the company’s executives pointed out that their company would use its affiliate’s panels and Taiwan-made panels in 70% and 30% of its LCD appliances including notebook computers, televisions, and monitors, respectively.
LG’s executives also said their company was considering opening an LCD-TV assembly line in Taiwan in cooperation with the island’s suppliers. LG is now the world’s No. 2 supplier of LCD monitors and plasma display panel (PDP) modules and ties up for No. 2 place of LCD TVs with Samsung.