Corning Inc. to invest $800 million on new LCD glass factory in Beijing

Corning to invest $800M on LCD plant in China

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Corning Inc. says it will invest $800 million to build a factory to make liquid crystal display glass in Beijing.

The world’s largest maker of LCD glass for televisions and computers cited strong market demand in its decision to ramp up investment in China. It plans to break ground on the project in September and begin production in the first half of 2012.

As LCD-TV market penetration reaches 90 percent in the United States, China will become the global leader in total TV sales — about 70 percent of them LCD models. Corning has projected that the Chinese market could rise 32 percent this year to 37 million LCD-TVs.