Samsung-Sony joint venture begin shipping 52-inch LCD panels

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Corp. on Tuesday began shipping panels for large-sized flat screen televisions from the newest production line at their liquid crystal display joint venture. The eighth generation line at the venture, called S-LCD Corp., makes panels of 46 inches and 52 inches measured diagonally from corner to corner. "Our sights are now on LCD TVs in the 50-inch class and we aim to lead that segment," Chang Won-kie said in a statement. The first panels shipped were 52-inch ones. The new facility is capable of manufacturing some of the world's largest substrates - the glass sheets used to make screens for flat screen televisions - measuring 2,200 millimeters (88 inches) by 2,500 millimeters (100 inches). Samsung and Sony founded S-LCD in 2004 to produce panels to meet demand for flat screen televisions, which has soared in recent years as consumers give up bulky cathode-ray tube sets for the sleeker versions.