South Korea's LG Electronics Inc, the world's second-biggest maker of plasma display panels (PDP), will raise production capacity by almost 50 percent in 2006, the company said on Saturday.
Output capacity would rise to 550,000 units a month by adding a new production line with capacity of 180,000 units a month, said LG, the country's top appliances maker.
No investment value or more specific timing details were provided in the filing to the Korea Exchange. "We will make the second-phase investment into the A3 line in the second half of 2006, to increase our production capacity to 550,000 units per month," LG said.
Plasma panels are one of the key components in plasma televisions, a market that US research firm DisplaySearch expects to more than quadruple in size by 2008.
PDP makers are set to benefit from stabilising panel prices as consumers find lower-priced plasma televisions, which boast of large screens and vivid colours, more attractive, analysts said.
The new production line, A3-2, will be added to LG's Kumi plant, LG said, hoping the investment would help increase its market share.