TFT-LCD Made In Korea Sold 6,800 Billion Won, Recording Market Share No. 1

Korea became the leading country in the market of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) in addition to the market of Semiconductor D RAM.

The total sales of TFT-LCD products by the domestic producers including Samsung Electronics and LG Phillips LCD was 5.236 billion dollars last year and 90 percent of the products were exported, anticipating that the exports of the items may lead the Korean economy.

Display Research, a U.S. Market survey institute, released a report on 20th, showing that Korea had 40.6 percent of the international market of medium-large scale TFT-LCD products by exporting 18,432,100 units. The market share of Korea was 37.1 percent in 2000.

Particularly, Samsung Electronics became the largest TFT-LCD manufacturer in the world by taking 20.1 percent of the international market and LG Phillips LCD also ranked at the second to the top, sharing 17.1 percent of the market. Hydis, an affiliate company of Hynix, took the share of 3.4 percent.

Korea passed ahead of Japan, the leading country of LCD products by then, in the market sharing at the 4th quarter of last year and finally ranked at the top in the annual market sharing for the first time in its history. Japan shared 51.9 percent of the international market in 2000 but the portion fell down to 36.6 percent last year.

Meanwhile, Taiwan emerged as a competitive country, taking 22.7 percent share of the world market, which is 10.9 percent higher than the previous year.

Such rapid growth of Korea in TFT-LCD market is due to the 62.2 percent growth of TFT-LCD business in general by the 219 percent increase of LCD monitors last year. Experts explained in particular that the steady investment during the stagnated domestic economy is now bearing fruits.

Kim Young-Jun, chief researcher of Kyobo Securities Co. Ltd., said that “Since Japan had focused on the products of mobile phone LCD area while Korean companies had invested in the 4th generation TFT-LCD facilities suitable for the production of large LCD panels, the overturning of the market share was made possible.”

Choi Seok-Po, a researcher in Merits Securities, anticipated that “the exports will increase this year since the market share of the domestic companies is on the rise and no companies except for Samsung Electronics and LG Phillips are not investing for the 5th generational facilities. ”

Yeon-Su Sin ysshin@donga.com · Jeong-Hun Park sunshade@donga.com