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SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 18 - Setting a new industry record, LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd, a leading innovator of thin-film transistorliquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) technology, today announced that it has reached a major milestone with accumulated production of 10 million TFT-LCDs for the desktop monitor market. In addition, the company also announced that it would set an accumulated sales record of 10 million TFT-LCDs for monitors next month. With this achievement, LG.Philips LCD becomes the first TFT-LCD company ever to produce and sell more than 10 million monitor units, further solidifying its position as the industry''s leading supplier of TFT-LCDs for the desktop monitor market.

The company attributes its success to the high demand for its 15-inch and 18.1-inch products for monitors, as well as its ability to meet the growingn demand. In 1998, when LG.Philips LCD first began producing 15-inch LCDs, the company produced only 100,000 units that year. Since then, demand for this screen size has increased dramatically -- evidenced by the fact that the company sold more than 2.9 million units of this size last year alone and may exceed 4 million units this year. Created for premium desktop monitors, the 18.1-inch display has also grown in popularity, with the company producing more than 920,000 18.1-inch units so far this year.

Another contributing factor to LG.Philips LCD's benchmark milestone is the opening of its fifth-generation manufacturing facility, the world''s first, dubbed "P4," in May 2002. As the new fab came online and began to ramp up production, the company increased production by more than 25 percent, producing more than 200,000 LCDs a month, at an 80 percent yield rate by the end of its first full quarter of operation. As OEM demand for larger and wider LCD monitors continues to rise, LG.Philips LCD is increasing the production of wide screen and larger 17-inch, 18-inch and 20-inch models for desktop monitors in an effort to meet the demand in this new burgeoning sector.

Commenting on this milestone, Ross Young, president of market research firm DisplaySearch (Austin, Texas), noted, "Based on LG.Philips LCD's long-standing leadership position in the desktop monitor segment over the past 4 years, it comes as no surprise that it is the first company to reach this
major production/sales milestone. We foresee the 17- and 18-inch segments of the TFT-LCD market for desktop monitors to grow 200 percent in 2002 to a 29 percent share, up from 18 percent, and expect this rapid growth to continue -- resulting in 17- and 18-inch panels quickly becoming the preferred LCD of choice for desktop monitor applications. With its manufacturing strength and capabilities in ''P4'' and ''P5,'' LG.Philips LCD is well positioned to further its leadership in the rapidly growing 17- and 18-inch segments as it has in the 15-inch segment."

"This sales record further entrenches LG.Philips LCD's position as the world''s leading TFT-LCD supplier for the desktop monitor market," said KS Park, the chief production officer of LG.Philips LCD. "Ultimately driven by a strong market demand, the main factors fueling LG.Philips LCD's growth can be attributed to the company's reliable and stable productivity and capacity strengths, along with its excellence in quality and customer support capabilities. We plan to aggressively invest more in a second fifth-generation fab, giving us the world's first and third fifth generation fabs -- and making us the only company capable of efficiently offering a full line-up of monitor products," Park added.