Sony mulls LCD investment, maybe with Samsung

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is seriously considering a large investment to boost liquid crystal display (LCD) production and there is a good possibility it will partner South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) again, a Sony executive said on Wednesday.

Sony and Samsung formed a $2 billion joint venture in 2004 to mass-produce LCD panels for large televisions. The venture began shipments of panels in April last year and has been ramping up output to meet fast-growing demand for LCD TVs.

"If you look at future demand, we need to decide the next investment. Either it (will be) the same size investment as the first one or a bigger one. We don't know yet," Fujio Nishida, Sony's European president, said at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Paris.

Sony is widely expected to announce plans fairly soon to boost LCD output as it needs to secure panels for its new line-up of Bravia brand LCD televisions, which have been selling very well since their launch in the latter half of last year.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a Japanese business daily, reported a little over a month ago that Sony and Samsung were set to start discussions about jointly building a second LCD plant for a total of about 300 billion yen ($2.6 billion).

Sony and Samsung declined to comment at the time.

Nishida said there was a "big possibility" that Sony would strike another deal with Samsung, but stressed that he was not directly involved in the decision-making process and could therefore not comment further.

"There are a few options. Tokyo headquarters TV group is now seriously considering that," he said, speaking in general terms about its next investment, which is seen as necessary to keep pace with rivals spending billions of dollars on new plants.

Earlier this year, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it would spend 180 billion yen on a new plasma display factory while Sharp Corp. (6753.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) earmarked more than 200 billion yen to boost output of LCD TVs.