Samsung Electronics and Sony Japan agreed to a $2 billion expansion of a liquid crystal display (LCD) plant, seeking a greater share of booming flat-screen TV sales. The companies already run a $2 billion joint venture, S-LCD Corp., in South Korea to produce the panels. This will allow Samsung to use Sony's brand power to expand the market for larger television panels. Panel supply was a key reason behind Sony's rise to the top spot in LCD TVs in the fourth quarter of 2005. "Samsung and Sony have seen lots of benefits by cooperating, creating the market together and enjoying higher margins in 40-inch TV panels," Lee Min-hee, an analyst at CJ Investment & Securities. "They want to do it again for the bigger-sized panels through the new deal."

The new line will begin mass production in the autumn of 2007 and have a production capacity of 50,000 units per month.
Source