Samsung Electronics has developed an 82-inch-thin film transistor-liquid crystal display which the company claims is the largest in the world.

The world’s largest LCD maker yesterday unveiled the world’s largest full high-definition LCD TV at the Hotel Shilla in central Seoul.



With the development of the 82-inch LCD, Samsung has retrieved its repute as the first developer of the world’s largest LCD panel from the Sharp Corp. of Japan.



The Korean electronics firm’s latest LCD is far bigger than the 65-inch model developed by Sharp last October.



“Our 82-inch LCD panel proves Samsung’s technological leadership,’’ Samsung Electronics senior vice president Kim Sang-soo said.



“The development of the 82-inch model broke the generally accepted notion that an LCD screen has a 40-inch size limit and cannot match plasma display panel (PDP) and projection-type flat-panel screens in large-size segments,’’ Kim added.



The 82-inch model is cut out from a single 1,870-millimeter by 2,200-millimeter mother glass substrate sheet produced at Samsung’s first seventh-generation LCD line at Tangjong complex in South Chungchong Province.



Two substrates for 82-inch LCD panels can be cut from one mother glass sheet and it can use the whole substrate to produce one 97-inch model.



“Developing a 97-inch model is just a matter of time. There is virtually no technical limitation for producing LCDs larger than 82 inches,’’ Kim said.



Kim noted that commercialization of the 82-inch model would require about one year to 18 months.



LG.Philips LCD, Samsung’s cross-town rival, produces the largest LCD panel used for digital TVs currently available to consumers.



The LCD joint venture between LG Electronics and Royal Philips Electronics succeeded in commercializing 55-inch LCDs with its sixth-generation production line. The biggest LCD panel churned out by Samsung, which skipped the sixth-generation, is 46-inch.



However, Samsung said it would begin mass production of 47-inch panels next month. Samsung developed the world’s first 40-inch LCD in August 2001, 46-inch panel in October 2002 and 57-inch model in December 2003.



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