Today, Samsung and Sony signed the final contract for constructing an 8th generation amorphous TFT-LCD panel manufacturing line at their joint venture, S-LCD Corporation.

Samsung and Sony previously discussed the joint venture establishment, and the S-LCD Corporation was established in the spring of 2004 with Samsung Electronics owning 50% plus 1 share and Sony 50% minus 1 share. The two companies have today reached the final contract stage which plans to establish an 8th generation amorphous TFT-LCD panel production line in addition to the current 7th generation amorphous TFT-LCD panel production line, at S-LCD.

They also plan to invest approximately $1.9 billion with each company providing half and to start production in fall 2007 with a production capacity of 50,000 panels per month. Together with the current 7th generation line, the start of the world’s most advanced (8th generation) line will enable both companies to expand production of large screen LCD panels for 50 inch class LCD TVs, of which demand is expected see a significant increase, as well as to acquire a stable supply to meet demands.

TFT LCDs are a variant of Liquid Crystal Display which use Thin-Film Transistor technology to improve their image quality. TFT LCDs are used in both flat panel displays and projectors and in computing, they are rapidly displacing CRT technology. As of 2006, they were also integrated in tv sets.