By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter

Betting a steadily rising demand for medium-sized liquid crystal display (LCD) panels used in monitors for desktop and laptop PCs, LG Display decided to spend 1 trillion won to build a new LCD production line.

Its chief executive Kwon Young-soo said late Thursday that the world’s No. 2 LCD supplier after Samsung Electronics will increase the production capacity at the company’s plant in the southeastern city of Gumi, where it has been producing 32- and 37-inch panels for information technology gadgets, as well as TVs.

But the company plans to cut investment in LCD facilities to 1.8 trillion won in 2009 as demand for LCD panels slows down.

``The sixth-generation production line will begin operations in the second quarter of 2009,’’ Kwon said. Thanks to the additional investment, LG’s sixth-generation level sheets production capacity will be raised to 230,000 sheets per month from the current 170,000 ― on a substrate glass input basis.

``We will increase this year’s capital spending to 3.6 trillion won from an earlier target of 3 trillion won because should we inject 600 billion won for another LCD line,’’ he said.

To respond with increasing oversupply risks in the global flat screen TV segment, LG Display has continuously been reducing its TV panel shipments, according to Kwon. But he declined to comment about a 13.2 percent stake still owned by its Dutch-based joint venture Philips.

yckim@koreatimes.co.kr