Corning Inc. is betting that big that LCD’s popularity will exploded over in China. It recently announced plans to build a $400 million to $700 million glass-melting plant within China under the forecast that the country will see a 70% growth in the LCD TV market. Corning probably knows what its doing, too. After all, the company is responsible for 60% of the world’s LCD glass.
China’s recent rapid growth is a golden opportunity for many companies previously not interested in the country. But the Chinese middle class is growing and buying up modern conveniences like LCD TVs. However, as the WSJ points out, the flat-panel sets still aren’t as popular in China as they are here in the States. About 90% of the TVs should stateside are LCDs where in China, it’s about 70%.
Corning Inc. isn’t the only LCD company with plans to move manufacturing within Chinese borders. The rest of the major LCD players — Samsung, LG, and Sharp — all plan on following suit shortly.
It’s commitments like this that cement LCD as the TV type of choice of years to come. It’s not like manufacturers will retool entire manufacturing lines just because a new display type like OLED or even SED claims to be better. You better like LCDs because they’re here to stay.