James Delahunty
18 Feb 2010 7:27
South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. is enjoying growth spurred by sharp rises in sales of its flat-panel televisions. In 2006, Samsung overtook Sony as the biggest seller of television sets in the world. Since that time, the company has watched its TV business almost double in size. It has an advantage in that it constructed its own manufacturing base instead of outsourcing like some of its rivals.
This gives Samsung complete control over costs and quality. "We may have to invest in some capacity this year," said Samsung's Kim Yang-gyu. The company will spend $136 million to expand a factory based in Slovakia. Samsung's share of the market stands at around 17.2 percent, ahead of LG at 14.8 percent. It shipped 38 million televisions last year.
LCD sets accounted for 27.5 million of the total, and 3.5 million were Plasma. The remainder of shipments were CRT televisions. This year, the company hopes to ship 45 million televisions, with LCD and Plasma accounting for 39 million.