Samsung to open new screen plant

Samsung SDI, the world’s largest plasma display panel maker, will invest 465.5 billion won ($450 million) over the next year in building what it says will be the world’s first production line devoted to screens used in portable gadgets such as mobile phones and hand-held games. Other market leaders, such as Sony, Samsung Electronics and LG Phillips LCD, produce the screens, known as organic light-emitting diodes, on semiconductor production lines and general purpose liquid crystal display production lines. Samsung SDI is to construct the production facility on land stretching 45,620 square meters (491,000 square feet) in Cheonan, South Chungcheong province, with mass production to start in January 2007. The facility is forecast to produce up to 200 million units of organic light-emitting diodes designed for mobile handsets per year, which would make Samsung SDI the world leader in the field. The company is betting that makers of consumer electronics will increasingly use organic screens because they are thinner, use less power and handle moving images better than liquid crystal displays. According to DisplaySearch, a market research agency, the global market for organic light-emitting diodes is expected to almost double next year to $831 million from its current $450 million. by Seo Ji-eun