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China's First LCD Module Production Line Launched by Hisense(SinoCast China IT Week Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) QINGDAO, September 21, SinoCast -- China's leading TV maker Hisense Group has brought its first liquid crystal display (LCD) module production line into operation on September 19, 2007. As planned, the TV maker will invest a total of CNY 700 million to build five LCD module production lines by three steps during the period from 2007 to 2009. The first production line, which is also China's first LCD module production line, is located in Hisense Industry Park in Qingdao Economic and Technical Development Area. It can make 500,000 LCD modules a year, ranging from 15 inches to 42 inches. The second and third lines will respectively start production in the first half of 2008 and the end of next year, reaching a combined annual production capacity of 1.5 million units. The figure will increase up to three million units when the fifth line starts production in 2009. In addition, the group will set up a light-emitting diode (LED) backlight module used for large-sized LCD TVs during the period. Thus, it will launch its self-developed large-sized LED backlight LCD TV in the near future. Global demands for flat-panel TVs, particularly LCD TVs, will hit 84 million and 100 million units in 2007 and 2008 respectively, forecasted DisplaySearch, a US-based IT consulting firm. Production cost in LCD module accounts for 60 percent to 70 percent of the total. Thus, Chinese TV manufacturers can become more competitive in prices if they grasp the technology for upstream LCD module production. Otherwise, they may become simply processing machines in global TV industry. Hisense is determined to make great achievement in LCD module production, in a bid to optimize its products, improve working efficiency, drive down cost, enhance competitiveness and break the status quo of the Chinese TV industry in the global market, noted Zhou Houjian, board chairman of Hisense. Established in 1969, Hisense is engaged in the production of TVs, air-conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines. It is now capable of producing 16.1 million TVs, 9 million air- conditioners, 10 million refrigerators, 700,000 freezers, and 4.7 million mobile phones a year. The group reaped sales revenue of CNY 43.5 billion in 2006, ranking top among domestic electronic manufacturers. By now, it has built overseas production bases in South Africa, Hungary, France, Pakistan, Algeria, and Iran, and sales offices in the US, Europe, Austria, and Japan. Depending on its overseas sales networks, the group has exported its products to more than 100 countries in Europe, America, South Asia, and Africa. (USD 1 = CNY 7.51) Copyright 2007 Sinocast LLC, Source: The Financial Times Limited |