Samsung and Sony today announced an agreement to build an eighth-generation LCD plant, confirming claims made last month that the pair were near to signing just such a deal.

The two companies said their LCD joint-venture, S-LCD, will invest KRW1.8tr ($1.9bn) - with each parent contributing half - in the facility, which will be built in Tangjeong, Korea. The plant is set to begin production of 50,000 2.2 x 2.5m panels a month in the autumn of 2007.

Each uber-panel will yield six 50in or eight 46in TV-centric LCDs.

Sony and Samsung agreed to cross-license their respective LCD patents in December 2004, eight months after the two formed S-LCD, a company tasked with building and running a joint seventh-generation panel plant. ®

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