"The expansion plan made by our global headquarters will surely impact on the Chinese market and we will continue to invest here," said H. C. Han, general manager of the Marketing Department of Samsung China.

On Wednesday, Samsung Electronics reportedly revealed it planned to invest US$7.3 billion next year in semiconductor, TFT LCD (thin film transistor liquefied crystal display), PDP (plasma display panel) televisions and mobile phone lines.

As a result, Samsung Electronics China will build a TFT LCD plant and a notebook production firm in Suzhou next year and both factories are expected to begin operation in April, Han said.

He revealed that the South Korean electronic giant would also expand the capacity of Samsung's CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile phone joint venture with Kejian in Shenzhen and the GSM (global system for mobile communication) factory in Tianjin.

"With China Unicom's CDMA 1X network in place next year, we will shift our focus from the current CDMA IS95A phones to CDMA 1X products," Han said.

He predicted that sales of CDMA phones in China would reach 7 million to 12 million sets next year and his company would take 35 per cent of the market.

Han said that Samsung Electronics had sold 1 million CDMA handsets in China this year.

"We will compete with Motorola for the title of the biggest CDMA phone maker in China and close the gap with Nokia in GSM phones for second place," Han said.

He said Samsung would not only concentrate on high-end products in 2003, but also make middle-level phones next year.

The Samsung Electronics executive also vowed to take a 10 percent share of China's notebook market with the Suzhou base, while handling orders from South Korea.

Samsung Electronics' China operations will generate US$6.4 billion revenue this year, beating the US$5 billion goal set for 2002.

Of the US$6.4 billion in total revenue, the semiconductor business contributed US$2.4 billion, IT products US$2 billion and exports US$2 billion, Han revealed.

Its business in China will account for 8 to 10 percent of Samsung Electronics' global operations.

(China Daily December 31, 2002)