about-electronics.eu

Forbes: Trying to regain its lead in the LCD TV market, Sharp has announced plans to boost output with a 8 billion yen (€51,2 million) factory in Mexico and a new production line at a domestic plant.

Sharp, once the undisputed global leader in LCD TVs, has fallen behind rivals as it struggled to meet surging global demand for flat-panel televisions.

It now holds about 12 percent of the global LCD TV market, putting it behind Sony, Samsung and Philips.

Sharp President Katsuhiko Machida told reporters in Tokyo that the new 8 billion yen ($66.3 million) Mexican factory will produce finished televisions in North America for the first time, greatly bolstering the company’s ability to feed the key U.S. market.

read more

DigiTimes: LG has now started operations at its plasma plant in Mexico.

LGE started building its plasma facilities in Reynosa, Mexico in early 2006 with the plan to assemble plasma’s from their Gumi plant in South Korea. The monthly capacity of the Reynosa plant is about 60,000 units and will increase to 100,000 units, the maker said.

This year, about US$45 million (€35 million) each was invested in LG’s plants in Mexico (Reynosa) and Poland (Malwa), with US$200 million (€157 million) invested in the new A3-2 line in Gumi, which yields 180,000 plasma panels monthly.

The line will eventually adopt eight-cut panel processing technology. With improved production technology, LG said its overall plasma capacity is expected to reach 550,000 units per month.

With the completion of the Reynosa plant, LGE now has four PDP module plants in four different regions: Mexico (Reynosa), Poland (Mlawa), China (Nanjing) and South Korea (Gumi). Each plant serves, respectively, as a hub for the Americas, Europe and Asia.

read more