There was a time when Europeans and Americans believed it was their manifest destiny to extend their empire West: from Europe to the Americas; from the American East Coast to the West; and into the Pacific. Such thinking is now very much out of fashion, but it’s clear that technology has continued the Westward march begun by explorers, settlers, and soldiers. The centers of technological development and manufacturing moved from Europe to the U.S., and then to Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Now, it’s moving to China.

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor
of HDTV Retailer

Where next? The answer is India, at least as far as plasma display panels (PDPs) are concerned. Yesterday, Satish Kaura, chairman & managing director of Samtel Color - the largest maker of color picture tubes (CPTs) in India - announced that Samtel Color would introduce a locally made PDP for television, as reported by The (India) Economic Times. "By the end of this year, we should be out with a few units, both for industrial usage and as a television," said Kaura. " From next year, we should be able to supply it to TV makers."

Kaura expects domestic manufacturing of flat panel display products to improve the sale of premium televisions by reducing the price, ultimately making the price low enough so the product will be attractive to a mass audience.

Samtel Color’s big business remains CPTs, and that’s still a good business in India. "The industry witnessed a slowdown last year due to various reasons, including a 20% drop in prices and a slow growth in demand in Q3," Kaura said, "but prices have stabilized now and we expect demand growth for CRT-TVs to be back in double digits. Our growth will also come from grabbing market share from other players."

With PDPs for television, Samtel will be positioning itself to supply displays for premium TVs intended for India’s rapidly growing professional class. It may be some time before Samtel-powered PDP-TVs show up in Costco, but if the company dominates the Indian PDP market, it could make it harder for Japanese and Korean suppliers to enter the market.

India is no stranger to high-tech either. Software companies have already figured out that development and customer support can be handled very effectively and cost efficiently in India. And, Indian ex-patriots are flocking back from Silicon Valley and other technology centers to start home grown businesses in many fields. It was only a matter of time before the display industry got onboard.

Westward the march of empire takes it’s flight.