Toshiba to buy 20% of LG.Philips LCD Poland unit to meet demand

Toshiba Corp. said it plans to buy about 20% of LG.Philips LCD Co.'s liquid-crystal display unit in Poland to secure a supply of television panels. Toshiba will invest about ¥5 billion ($42 million) in the Polish subsidiary, the Tokyo-based company said in a release today. The company said it will use the panels to make TVs measuring 40 inches or more diagonally. Toshiba, Hitachi Ltd. and Sony Corp. are expanding television production in Europe to meet demand as consumers choose flat-panel screens to replace conventional bulkier models. Toshiba last month said it will spend about ¥6 billion to build an LCD television factory in Poland by August 2007 and aims to triple its annual European LCD TV production to 3 million units in the year ending March 2010. Hitachi, Japan's second-biggest plasma television maker, earlier this month said it will spend about ¥8 billion to build a flat-panel television factory in the Czech Republic. Sony will spend ¥11 billion to build a plant in Slovakia by September 2007, the company said in September. (Bloomberg)