Tsinghua Tongfang Co Ltd will invest four billion yuan (US$533
million) to build a manufacturing plant for flat screen televisions
and related components in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, the
Beijing-based company said in a statement yesterday.
Tsinghua Tongfang, which used to focus on personal computers and
IT services, shows how the booming digital TV market in China has
attracted many new players, industry insiders said.
Tsinghua Tongfang has started operation of the first phase in
Shenyang. The facility cost US$500 million yuan. The company will
produce LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs, PDP (plasma display
panel) TVs and components like set-top boxes at the Shenyang
plant.
The company plans to manufacture one million units annually in
the first phase. Tsinghua Tongfang will increase annual production
to three million units once the third phase of construction is
completed, according to Wang Lianghai, Tsinghua Tongfang's
assistant to the president in charge of the company's digital TV
business.
"We will invest more in the digital TV sector as it has vast
potential," Wang said. "Output at Shenyang will eventually hit five
billion yuan."
In the first nine months, LCD TV output was 110.8 million units
in China, up 71.6 percent from a year ago. LCD output accounted for
19.5 percent of all TV models, 8.4 percentage points more than the
same period last year, according to the Ministry of Information
Industry.
Globally, LCD TV panel sales jumped 59 percent year on year to
hit 23.70 million units in the third quarter, according to
DisplaySearch, a US-based IT research firm.
"Chinese consumers will favor new technology TVs for the Beijing
Olympic Games in 2008," iSuppli Corp, another US-based research
firm, said in a note.
Tsinghua Tongfang has a 200-million-yuan deal for digital TVs
from China-based home appliance retailer Gome. The company wants
more than 1,000 retailers nationwide to sell its television sets,
according to Wang.
(Shanghai Daily November 6, 2007)
