LG Chem Ltd, South Korea“s largest chemicals maker, said on 10 February 2009 that it has agreed with German glass technology firm Schott Solar to adopt its techniques for producing LCD glass substate…
LG Chem Ltd, South Korea“s largest chemicals maker, said on 10 February 2009 that it has agreed with German glass technology firm Schott Solar to adopt its techniques for producing LCD glass substates. “LCD Glass business will be LG Chem“s next growth engine, following polariser and batteries in our information and electronic materials division”, LG Chem said in a statement. Details on the deal were not released. Corning Inc is the largest maker of LCD glass substrates and competes against Japan“s Asahi Glass and Nippon Electric Glass. Corning runs a venture with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Samsung Corning Precision Glass Co Ltd, to serve Korean panel makers. The global LCD glass market is dominated by Corning and its Samsung joint venture with 55% of sales. Asahi Glass and Nippon Electric Glass follow with 23% and 18% market share, respectively. On 6 February 2009, Corning said the total LCD glass market would be about 2 billion square feet in 2009, flat from 2008, with demand improving from the 2Q. DisplaySearch estimated that global market LCD glass demand was about JPY 1.16 trillion (USD 12.68 billion). In January-September 2008, Samsung Corning earned net profit of KRW 1.4 trillion.