Monday February 20, 9:12 am ET

Samsung Electronics Approves Spending for Liquid Crystal Display Production Line

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday its board has approved 229.4 billion won ($236.9 million) in spending to increase production of liquid crystal displays to meet rising demand.

The company, the world`s largest memory chip maker and a major manufacturer of consumer electronics, made the announcements in a regulatory filing to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Samsung has benefited from demand for LCDs, used in sleek flat screen televisions, as consumers increasingly replace older, bulky cathode-ray tube TVs.

The company said in January that its net profit for the fourth quarter of 2005 surged 40 percent, thanks to strong demand for flat panel TVs and semiconductors.

In a separate filing, Samsung said it will invest 388.2 billion won ($400.9 million) in a research and development production line for DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips, used in personal computers.

Samsung has earmarked a total of 9.23 trillion won ($9.53 billion) in capital spending this year, including investments in its semiconductor operations.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060220/skorea_samsung.html?.v=2

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