Begins mass production of 58-inch, full high-definition
PDP it developed for the first time in Korea

Begins mass production of 58-inch, full high-definition PDP it developed for the first time in Korea

Samsung SDI has recaptured the No.1 position in the domestic PDP display market one year after it lost its crown to LG Electronics. The global market survey agency Display Research said on Aug. 7 that Samsung SDI made a delivery of 630,000 PDP module units for the second quarter of this year, 90,000 units more than LG Electronics.
Samsung SDI retained the No.1 position in the global market in terms of PDP shipments until the third quarter of 2005, but a delay in an expansion of Samsung SDI's production lines allowed Matsushita of Japan to take over the global top position from the fourth quarter of 2005. And from the second quarter of 2006, Samsung lost the domestic No.1 position to LG Electronics.
Samsung SDI posted $312.1 million in PDP sales for the second quarter of 2007, beating LG Electronics'$259.5 million. Samsung SDI now ranked second in the global market after Matsushita.
Samsung SDI had been struggling with LG Electronics to recapture the global No. 2 position after it lost it to LG Electronics in the first quarter of last year.
Meanwhile, Samsung SDI, a global display & energy leader, announced a full-fledge mass production of a 58-inch (147.32cm) full high-definition PDP it developed on its own as part of its efforts to strengthen the 50-inch or higher PDP TV lineup. The latest development and mass production of 58-inch PDP TV, following 63-inch (160.02-cm) and 50-inch (127-cm) PDP TVs is expected to allow Samsung SDI to further strengthen its premium strategy of focusing on the large-size PDP TV market.
It is likely to allow the large-size PDP displays to retain an upper hand over its rival LCD displays, industrial analysts said.
Samsung SDI's mass production of 58-inch Full high-definition PDP displays, the first in Korea and the second globally after a Japanese company, enables the Korean display giant to cope with an expansion of new and substitute demands in the North American market.
Samsung SDI's 58-inch full high-definition PDP has improved brightness, a weak point of the existing full high-definition PDPs. Samsung SDI 58-inch PDP display's peak brightness stands at 1,300cd per cubic per square meter, 18 percent brighter than its rivals, while its black brightness is lowered more than 65 percent than its rivals to express more natural colors. Its dark room contrast ratio is 15,000:1, 2.5 times higher than its high-definition rivals, while Samsung SDI cut down on the number of parts in the PDP module by half to internally raise its unit cost competitiveness.
Park Sang-kyu, head of the marketing team at the Samsung SDI PDP Business, said Samsung SDI has built up a full lineup of the large-size PDP TV's through mass production of 58-inch PDP displays, and fourth assembly line for massing producing 50-inch PDP TVs will be operated at full capacity to raise its competitive edge. Mass production of 58-inch PDP TVs and more aggressive approach to the large-size premium PDP displays will continue to retain PDP TV's upper hand in the large-size display TV market, he said.
Samsung SDI plans to release the 58-inch full high-definition PDP TVs to the American market through Samsung Electronics outlets before putting it on the Korean market.
Display Research predicted that the global demand for the 50-inch flat panel TVs is projected to redouble from 6.7 million units during 2007 to 15,7 million units in 2011. nw

(left photo) Samsung SDI President Kim soon-taek. Samsung SDI is now capable of mass producing 3 million PDP panels per annum from its assembly lines.