South Korean firms on top in LCD TV market

South Korea's top two tech companies maintained their leading presence in liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs in the first quarter, followed by emerging Chinese manufacturers, data showed Tuesday.

Samsung Electronics Co.'s market share in the global LCD TV market reached 20.4 percent in the January-March period, followed by its smaller Korean rival LG Electronics Inc. with 14.6 percent, according to the data compiled by market tracker WitsView.

The market share gap between the two Korean companies came at 5.8 percentage points in the first three months of this year, down from 9.9 percentage points from the previous quarter, it said.

LCD TV shipments by two Chinese makers, TCL Corporation and Hisense, accounted for 6.9 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively, on the back of strong sales at home during the holiday season, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency.

Japan's Sony Corp., which ranked third in the fourth quarter, slipped to fifth place with a 5.6 percent market share as it focused more on the high-end electronics market.

The researcher expected the global LCD TV market to climb 2 percent in the second quarter as Samsung and LG are expected to reduce shipments to Europe and Russia, whose currency exchange rates have lost ground against their global peers.