LG Business Group announced a plan on Jan. 6 to invest 20 trillion won in 2013, its highest one-year investment ever, a 19.1 percent surge or 3.2 trillion won higher than the 16.8 trillion won in 2012.

By segment, the total breaks down to 13.4 trillion won in the electronics sector, 3.5 trillion won in the chemical sector, and 3.1 trillion won in the telecom service field. 

LG said it will set aside 2 trillion won for building organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel and mobile high-definition liquid crystal display (LCD) panel production lines. The plan is designed to reflect Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo’s call for the group to take the lead in the global OLED and other next-generation panel markets. 

In the chemical field for LG Chem and LG Life Sciences, the focus will be on investing in the production of multi-functional petrochemical products and expanding LCD glass plate, biosimilar, and EV battery plants.  

Facility investments in 2013 amount to 14 trillion won, up 18.6 percent or 2.2 trillion won over 2012. R&D outlays will top 6 trillion won, up 20 percent or 1 trillion won over the previous year. The business group decided to hire 15,000 new employees in 2013, a similar level to 2012. 

Earlier, LG Group Chairman Koo urged his group executives and staff members to spearhead the global market and put plans into action at a ceremony to mark the start of the new business year at the Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, on Jan. 2. Koo said at the gathering of about 400 group officials, “The stark reality is that companies that are not leaders cannot expect to sustain growth or make profits, so let’s make a fresh start in the new year with a sense of firm determination to make LG a market leader.”

LG Electronics Vice Chairman Koo Bon-joon, in his strong-worded speech, urged his company officials to spearhead the global market by offering products and services differentiating itself from others in a way that customers' hearts and minds can be moved. “Let’s make the year 2013 a year for taking the lead in the market and creating achievements,” he said. Specifically speaking, Koo proposed four strategies: securing leadership with products differentiating itself from others; moving toward the optimal environment for creating value for customers; settling down the so-called LG Business Way; and faithfully sticking to the basics. 

THE WORLD’S FIRST 55-INCH OLED TV 

LG Electronics announced the release of the world’s first 55-inch OLED TV at daybreak on Jan. 2 shortly after the New Year holiday, stunning the world. The announcement came the way the hero of the movie “007” series did °™ a blitzkrieg operation in a clandestine manner. The launch of the next-generation OLED TV, originally scheduled for last year, had been delayed due to a technology glitch, but it came earlier than expected. Only a group of officials in a few related business lines knew the process of the new technology so as not to lose its hegemony in the race for the production of the new TV sets to others. 

LG Vice Chairman Koo, in a meeting with reporters following his group’s New Year meeting, confirmed his company’s confidence in the success of the new TV, saying, “How could we dare release it on the market unless we have confidence in succeeding in the market?”  

LG’s release of the OLED TV may be construed as LG Group’s move to launch a more aggressive offensive to take a commanding lead in the newly emerging global markets, industry analysts agree. 

Model 55EM9700, which is 4 millimeters thick °™ thinner than a smartphone °™ and weighs about 10 kg, is priced at 11 million won. With anti-reflection technology, the contrast stays consistent regardless of the viewing angle or lighting. In contrast to traditional RGB TVs that use red, green and blue in the pixels, LG’s new TV additionally includes white in its sub-pixels for better expression of colors, which it calls WRGB.

With the release of the OLED TV, LG Electronics is outpacing Samsung Electronics in the race in the emerging global OLED TV market.