LG Philips LCD, the world's largest LCD screen maker, is to invest $21,000m over the next 10 years to capitalise on booming demand for flat displays for big screen televisions. Global display makers are pouring cash into new plants that promise to slash production costs by using larger plates of glass, from which displays are cut, at a time when a surge in output by rivals has driven down flat panel screen prices. The huge investment plan, which comes on top of US$2,480M earmarked for another LG Philips plant, tops rival Samsung Electronics which has pledged to spend US$17,150M on new production lines over the same period. Samsung has also agreed to join forces with Japan's Sony Corp in an US$1,800M deal to make flat TV screens. LG Philips, a 50-50 joint venture of South Korean LG Electronics and Dutch Philips Electronics, did not say how it would fund the investment.
