LG Electronics is going all out to claim the lead in the world’s plasma display panel (PDP) TV market, with a new PDP production line in Gumi ready to start rolling on Thursday. Korea’s second largest consumer electronics maker said Tuesday its fourth PDP production line, which cost W600 billion (US$600 million) to build, is the world’s first to use technology allowing six panels to be cut from one motherglass. The company said that would give it a decisive edge in its bid for market leadership, since its four production lines have a capacity to make 350,000 PDPs a month, the biggest in the world.

Its rivals Samsung Electronics and Japan’s Matsushita currently have a production capacity of some 300,000 PDPs.