Samsung Electronics and LG Display, the world’s top two LCD panel makers, will invest a total of over USD6 billion to build two advanced panel plants in China. Samsung received approval to construct a 7.5-generation LCD plant in Suzhou in Jiangsu province and will invest USD2.26 billion in it, Zou Jikai, Samsung China’s Spokesperson, confirmed.  LG Display, the world’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, got the green light to spend USD4 billion for an 8th-generation plant in Guangzhou. These next-generation LCD panel plants allow firms to make bigger-sized LCD screens to meet demand for TVs of 40-inch or above. Most LCD facilities in China now are fifth or sixth generation, according to experts. Seoul-based LIG Investment & Securities Co Analyst Choi Do Yeon said that “China is a market where a very large number of households haven’t switched to LCD televisions yet. Even though it’s the fastest growing market in the world, it still has a lot of growth potential. The new factories can be beneficial in terms of securing distribution channels.” China became the largest LCD-TV market in the third quarter, surpassing the United States, according to Soh Hyun Cheol, Analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp in Seoul. Meanwhile, AU Optronics Corp (AUO) has received approval from Taiwanese authorities to build a USD3 billion LCD panel plant in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, the first 7.5-generation plant invested by a Taiwan firm on the Chinese mainland. Its approval was seen as a bid to maintain the island’s technology edge amid rising competition from South Korea.