Toshiba to Build LCD TV Plant in Poland

Toshiba Corp. and Poland's government on Wednesday signed a letter of intent for the construction of a US$51 million plant that would make large liquid-crystal-display television screen units for the European market.

The letter was signed by Toshio Yonezawa, deputy chairman of Toshiba Corp., and Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak.

According to the plan, the US$51 million (euro40 million) total investment in the plant in Kobierzyce, in southwestern Poland, will be reached over five years. Production is to start in August 2007.

The plant would make some 2 million units annually for European customers by the year 2009, raising the company's current output to some 3 million units a year, Toshiba said.

It would be the second plant in Europe for the company, which also has one in Britain.

The plant would offer 1,000 jobs in Poland, which has the European Union's highest jobless rate at 15.6 percent. It would make units that are 32 inches and larger.

A Japanese business newspaper, Nihon Keizai, said Sunday that Toshiba is lagging behind Japanese rivals in production of flat panel TVs and is apparently hoping to gain ground in the European market, where demand for the thin LCD sets is rapidly growing.

Source:chron.com,