14 DAY TRIAL // The LCD panels' market is one bloody war zone, filled with companies from South Korean and Taiwan constantly trying to reach for each other's throat in an attempt to occupy the leading position. One of the keys to success in this highly competitive field is innovation and the capacity to always be one step ahead of the competition, and that's exactly what the people over at LG seem to have managed to do.
So, as the Susie Pan and Esther Lam report for Digitimes, LG has announced that it has completed the construction of a brand new fab shell at Paju, Korea, and that it plans to install there a brand new production line for its 8G line (P8) of LCD panels starting with mid-2008. In this way, the company estimates to begin volume production by March 2009, almost half a year earlier than some of its competitors.
As the company declared, the P8 line will initially focus on 32-, 47-, 52- and 57-inch LCD TV panels on a glass substrate size of 2,200mm?2,500mm. In contrast to 8G lines traditionally being utilized for 50-inch and above production, growing flexibility means there is potential to produce 32-inch panels at 8G lines also.
As mentioned earlier, by speeding up the installation of the production line, LG will be able to start shipping finite products a lot earlier than most of its competitors. Thus, whereas S-LCD has already started volume production, AUO (AU Optronics) and CMO (Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) will only start equipment installation in late 2008. Based on LG Display's schedule, the Korea-based panel maker is expected to have its 8G panels available 2-3 quarters ahead of its Taiwan rivals, which will certainly help it take a serious lead on the market.
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