Samsung to Build $57-Million TV Fab in Russia

KALUGA, Russia - Samsung Electronics will soon build a large-scale TV factory near Moscow, according to a June 11 report in Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo. The company said it would construct a 195,000-sq.-meter, $57-million factory in Kaluga, which is 85 km southwest of Moscow, according to the report.

Construction is scheduled to begin next month and finish by October 2008, with production aimed at 2.2 million units annually by 2010, the newspaper reported.

"Samsung has decided on the investment to meet the rapidly increasing demand for digital TVs in Russian and the CIS region," the paper quotes Lee Don-joo, executive director in charge of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at Samsung Electronics' Russian unit, as saying.

As of April, Samsung had a 20.7% market share for LCD TVs in Russia and a 22.9% market share for plasmas, The Chosun Ilbo said. Its nearest competitors in the Russian market are Philips with 20.5% and LG Electronics with 21.8%.