Executive Vice President Souk Jun Hyung of the Samsung Electronics LCD Business told a large audience here today that the liquid crystal display industry's large screen TV segment is expanding at an explosive rate where full high definition (HD) is becoming an essential element of performance.
Delivering a presentation titled "Samsung's Business and Technology Strategy for Continuous Growth" at Flat Panel Display International 2006 today, Mr. Souk said the greatest effects of future TV development will be felt in the area of full-HD content as well as with the media and players capable of delivering such content.
As the industry continues to experience intense competition, Mr. Souk said that industry leadership will require a commitment to advanced devices that can reproduce their visual contents in full high definition, or two million pixels.
Mr. Souk said, "Large screen TV functions keep improving and the highly competitive marketplace will be focused on making larger panels with higher resolution. The winning device in today's fierce competition will be the one that can best display full HD content. The main TVs in many homes in 2-3 years will be 50-inch-class and full HD is a must for them."
Mr. Souk also underscored Samsung's strong commitment to the LCD business and pointed to the delicate but essential "balance between profit and continual growth as the linchpin of Samsung's LCD business strategy. "We are focused on maintaining or exceeding the current level of profitability."
Mr. Souk also provided a progress report on the new 8th-generation LCD production line that Samsung is building, saying that construction is proceeding on schedule. "Our new 8th-Gen line will produce visually stunning 50-inch-class LCD TVs to fortify our market leadership position, while our 7th-generation lines already are enabling Samsung to competitively position LCD TVs in the 40-inch range," he said.
The new 8th-generation line, Mr. Souk said, will be capable of creating eight 46-inch panels or six 52-inch panels from a single glass substrate measuring 2,200mm by 2,500mm. The line will be able to process 50,000 glass substrates a month, or the equivalent of 3.6 million 52-inch panels annually. Production startup is slated for October of 2007.
Mr. Souk added that future display designs will cover an extremely broad spectrum of applications. "They will come in virtually any size for use at anytime, and anywhere. The entire industry should strive to pull together in setting more standards and in identifying possible areas of common technological interest that can meet new demands and accelerate new markets."