January 12th, 2009
LG Display signs LCD supply deal with Apple
South Korean manufacturer LG Display said it has signed a deal to supply LCD panels to Apple for five years, Reuters reports.
LG, the world’s second-biggest maker of LCD screens behind Samsung, did not disclose the total size of the deal but stated that it would receive a $500 million advance from Apple this month.
“Although LG Display already had a relationship with Apple, the deal’s duration and the size of the advance show that the two companies are involved in a long-term, strategic alliance,” said Son Young-jun, a spokesman for LG Display, in the article.
Shares in LG Display were up 3 percent while the rest of the market was down more than 1 percent.
Analysts were quick to discount the impact of the announcement, according to the article. One noted that LG already supplies more than 70 percent of Apple’s notebook screens and monitors, while another said LG’s share performance “may be due to the fact that the decline in panel prices [in the wake of the global slowdown due to oversupply] is not expected to continue.”
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
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| 01/13/09
