Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Samsung) and Sony Corporation (Sony) today announced that they have signed a contract to establish an additional 8th generation amorphous TFT-LCD manufacturing line (8-2 line) at their joint venture, S-LCD Corporation (S-LCD).

S-LCD, established in April 2004, started its 7th generation line operation in April 2005 and its first 8th generation line operation in August 2007 to manufacture and supply TFT-LCD panels to Samsung and Sony. To meet the increase of the world demand for LCD televisions, Samsung and Sony agreed to expand the capacity of the 8th generation line. Total investment for the 8-2 line will be approximately 1.8 trillion KRW (approximately $1.9 billion/200 billion JPY) and will be invested by S-LCD.

The 8-2 line is to be built in the Tangjeong Complex, and production is targeted to start in the second quarter of 2009. The production capacity of the new line is expected to be initially 60,000 sheets per month (substrate glass input basis). The size of substrate glass from this line will be 2,200 x 2,500mm.

By adding the 8-2 line, together with the current 8th and 7th generation lines in Tangjeong, S-LCD is expected to be a stable and efficient supplier to Samsung and Sony of large screen LCD panels.