S-LCD is a Sony-Samsung joint venture

Apr 20, 2005 07:26 GMT  ·  By

Last year, Samsung Electronics and Sony invested 2 billion dollars and founded S-LCD, a company whose main purpose is to manufacture seventh generation LCDs.

These displays are designed for LCD TV sets and the company was created so that Sony gets a bigger share on the LCD TV market.

One year after the company was founded, it started to ship its first displays. The capacity of the company is estimated at 60,000 units per day, but S-LCD didn't reveal any details about production costs or the current number of units.

S-LCD is able to produce displays ranging from la 26 to 46 inches, but the main products will have a diagonal between 36 inches and 40 inches.

The technologies implemented by S-LCD are the most advanced in the world, the production line being able to process a glass matrix having 220 x 187 cm. From such a matrix, the company produces 18 displays of 26 inches, 12 displays of 32 inches and 8 displays of 40 inches.

Samsung and Sony consider that S-LCD will lead even more to the decrease of LCD prices.

Sony is the main customer, especially for the first production months, and the company hopes that by 2006, through the S-LCD products it will be able to increase the number of LCD TV units with 50%.

Samsung Electronics, which is already producing LCD TVs in its own factories, distributed in the first trimester of this year 8.8 million units and the company officials estimate that in the second semester it will reach 9.6 millions.