Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics signed an agreement to acquire U.S. automotive electronics firm Harman International Industries Inc. for about $8 billion. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s top tech firm, is set to take over QD Vision, a U.S. firm that specializes in quantum dot technology, in a deal aimed at boosting Samsung’s presence in the global premium TV market.
“(We) decided to take over (QD Vision),” Chung Chil-hee, the head of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday. The institute is Samsung’s research and development unit. The deal may be announced next week at the earliest, industry sources said.
The value of the deal was not revealed, but market players estimate it at some US$70 million. Quantum dot TVs offer better picture quality and cheaper manufacturing costs than organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs.
The deal is the latest in a series of corporate takeovers by the country’s No. 1 firm by market value.
Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics signed an agreement to acquire U.S. automotive electronics firm Harman International Industries Inc. for about $8 billion.
The deal, which marks the largest-ever buyout by a South Korean company, is the first major acquisition by Samsung since the company’s heir apparent, Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, joined the board of the electronics giant last month.
QD Vision has supplied quantum dot films to China’s TCL Corp. and teamed up with Sony Corp. in developing quantum dot TVs. QD Vision also formed an agreement with LG Display Co. in 2010 for the development of quantum dot technology.
Samsung is seeking to develop quantum dot LED (QD LED), which is regarded as a next-generation display capable of competing with OLED.
(Yonhap)
