LG:LCD downturn to last through mid-2012

The chief executive of LG Display Co., the world's second-biggest maker of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, said Wednesday that the LCD industry-wide downturn will likely persist through the summer of next year. "We see that (the LCD industry) will improve during the second half of next year," Kwon Young-soo, the company's chief executive officer, told reporters on the sidelines of a trade fair in north of Seoul. The Korean panel maker posted its third straight quarterly loss in the April-June period, as consumers in developed regions postponed purchasing TVs because of the uncertain economic outlook. Weak demand for TVs pummeled prices of overall LCD panels. "There are big sporting events like the London Olympics next year and there will be more cheap TVs of great quality," Kwon said, explaining why he expected an industry a turnaround towards the end of 2012. Large-size LCD panels for TVs account for more than half of LG Display's revenues. Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest LCD supplier, combined its semiconductor and LCD businesses in a bid to accelerate a turnaround of its LCD business, while LG Display cut investments and lowered the operation level of its production lines. LG Display, a supplier of LCD panels for Apple Inc.'s iPad, recently waged a smartphone war against hometown rival Samsung, aggressively promoting the mobile LCD screen used in the smartphones of its affiliate LG Electronics Inc., and discrediting that of rival Samsung.