IR News

- Technical cooperation with Thomson on PDP in the next two years
- Technical cooperation on circuit, signal processing and the development of high-definition products
- Running for the world’s top spot (25% of the global PDP market share) by 2005


LG Electronics (LGE) forged a comprehensive strategic partnership with Thomson in the R&D sector on PDP technical development.

On July 11, Nam K. Woo, President & CEO of the LGE Digital Display and Media Company, signed a partnership on the PDP R&D sector with Charles Dehelly, CEO of Thomson, amid participation of 50 staff members and management executives from both companies in its headquarter in Boulogne, France. Both heads had a fruitful discussion about enhancing effective cooperation.

Through this alliance, LGE and Thomson will have a tie-up in PDP technical development in the next two years. New technologies made during this period will be applied in product development,and quality improvement.

The biggest reason for this partnership is that they had a mutual need to share each other’s circuitry and other high definition display technologies, that are the core pieces of display products. This partnership projects a positive impact on the two companies: LGE’s PDP business expects better facilitation while Thomson will gain better advantages in PDP technology development.

This alliance is expected to lead LGE to the leading position in global market by allowing LGE to manufacture the best quality plasma modules that are applied with new display enhancing technologies, including the new integrated chipset in development, based on LGE’s already long display technology. Thomson, on the other hand, is expected to rise to the leadership position in PDP market by developing plasma technologies. Thomson currently has 100 patents in display technology, most of them are related to panel addressing and driving, including the power part and the electron wave reduction.

In the contract signing ceremony, Nam K. Woo, President & CEO expressed his optimism on the partnership. “Thanks to technical cooperation with Thomson, LGE is expected to secure the global leadership position by using the leading signal processing technology.” Nam K. Woo, President & CEO expects cooperation on technical development in the PDP business will help both companies attain the top share in the global display market.

‘Thomson is pleased to sign this R&D contract with LG Electronics. By combining LG expertise in plasma displays and our technological expertise in the digital signal processing on flat displays, such as Plasma, Thomson will be able to dedicate the necessary resources to maintain the technological leadership that customers expect from the company and benefit from the significant growth of the flat display market.’ said Charles Dehelly, Chief Executive Officer, Thomson.

Thomson provides a wide range of video (and enabling) technologies, systems, finished products and services to consumers and professionals in the entertainment and media industries. Enabling the digital transition, Thomson has four principal divisions: content and networks, consumer products, components and licensing. This contract is in line with the refocusing strategy of Thomson R&D on the electronics of Plasma displays. It will also enable Thomson to benefit from the plasma market growth by leveraging its intellectual property, and eventually by supplying integrated circuits.

LGE is aiming for the world’s top spot by attaining more than 25% of the world PDP market share by 2005. PDP is often regarded as the next generation business.

To this end, LGE is scheduled to strengthen its sales promotions to maintain and expand market share. It continues to lead the market with its own products through continuous technical development.

In order to ensure PDP price competitiveness, LGE will increase its yield while expanding production capacity from 600,000 units this year to 1.6 million units by 2005.

In particular, LGE plans to operate a global production system by producing and selling its products not only in the Gumi factory but also in the Shenyang factory in China and the Reynosa factory in Mexico. The product range will expand to 40, 42, 50 and 60 inches. This will establish the full line-up of PDP TV products.