Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1998/09/13/lcd_technology_takes_centre_stage/

LCD technology takes centre stage in Hyundai-LG barney

External mediator will try resolve public row

By Team Register

Posted in On-Prem, 13th September 1998 14:45 GMT

Hyundai has offered to break the deadlock between it and LG Semicon over the future of a merged chip business by offering to trade its TFT-LCD business for the other company’s chip business. Reports in the South Korean press claimed that the offer was Hyundai’s attempt to break the deadlock which has affected it and both LG since they agreed to merge their semiconductor businesses. But LG has turned down the offer and the two companies are still in deadlock over the deal they have both promised to implement. The South Korean government is now set to use an intermediary to resolve the two week long public row between the two companies, the reports said, with Federation of Korean Industries supremo Kim Woo-choong, likely to be the broker. LG turned down Hyundai’s offer because it said that the LCD manufacturing capabilities it was attempting to barter were not state of the art fabrication plants. Compared to Samsung’s ability to produce TFT-LCDs, both Hyundai and LG Semicon are far behind in terms of both technology and market share. But Samsung is not involved in semiconductor negotiations and stands to win even more market share from the other two chaebols as the embarrassing public row continues. ®