LG will spend the equivalent of $14.1 billion on attempting to turn around its ailing phone business as well expand into the increasingly popular tablet computer and AMOLED display businesses. This would mark the biggest such investment from the South Korea-based electronics giant, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The total 2011 investment is also nearly 11.7 percent higher than the money devoted last year.
Another large amount, nearly $4 billion, will be spent on research and development on high-tech electronics. The company has been slow to release a flagship smartphone, the Optimus 2X, to compete with the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S. It should outperform both but won’t ship until January, about half a year later. The Optimus Pad tablet hasn’t had any shipping details and may not arrive until further into 2011.
The third quarter of the year was LG’s worst to date for cell phones, with sales dropping by nearly a third at 32 percent. The plunge prompted the company’s mobile CEO, Nam Yong, to quit the company at the end of September.
