Hong Kong-based LG.Philips Displays - powered by high demand from mainland manufacturers - is to expand the market for its cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors in the Asia-Pacific region and push back the challenge from liquid crystal display (LCD) screens.
The company, an Hong Kong-formed joint venture between LG Electronics of South Korea and the Netherlands' Philips Electronics, also expects to strengthen its 24 per cent global market share as the CRT manufacturing industry for personal computer and television monitors begins to consolidate.
LG.Philips Displays chairman and chief executive Andreas Wente forecast the company's Asia-Pacific business would increase from 50 per cent last year to 65 per cent of its overall sales in the next 24 months and outpace worldwide rivals Chunghwa Picture Tubes of Taiwan and Seoul-based Samsung SDI.
He said fast-growing demand from mainland-based television manufacturers and exporters such as Konka, the Haier Group and TCL International, China's No 1 colour TV maker, provided increased opportunities for CRT monitor sales worldwide.
About two-thirds of LG.Philips Displays' US$4 billion in CRT monitor sales last year came from TV manufacturers, many of which have shifted production in recent years to low-cost areas such as China, Mexico and Eastern Europe. The balance came from sales to the global desktop personal computer market, which mainly relies on computer display terminals built in Asia.
'We are maximising the combined resources of the joint venture partners to offer customers a complete portfolio of products and lead the consolidation in the CRT industry,' Mr Wente said.
At present, one out of four television sets or computer monitors worldwide has an LG.Philips Displays tube inside. The company aims to narrow that ratio to one out of three by 2005. The company estimated the total worldwide CRT monitor market last year reached 240 million units, of which 90 million units were for PC displays and 150 million for TVs.