South Korea: Samsung Plans First LCD Plant in China

Samsung is planning to build its first LCD plant inside China, which will make it the firm’s first end-to-end facility outside its native country, South Korea.

Overall costs of the new venture are about $2.2 billion. Samsung said it continues to be the biggest global manufacturer of LCD panels for HD television sets.

Samsung has chosen the city of Suzhou (in the eastern sector of China) to house the new plant--although final approval is still being sought from both the Chinese and South Korean governments. Approval of both parties is expected. It already has a smaller assembly plant in Suzhou.

While the set maker has not decided specifically what size LCD panels it plans to manufacture from glass substrates, a Samsung official said that a new plant of this scale typically would likely lean towards screen sizes between 32 and 47 inches, according to the Associated Press.

Samsung has six other large-scale production plants in South Korea, and apart from Suzhou, one additional assembly plant in the nation of Slovakia.