WHERE IT ALL BEGINS: Before any LCD panels can be made, you have to have the LCs. That's why German concern Merck is investing more than $314 million in a new plant that will triple its crystal capacity.

Growing demand for LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions and computer monitors has manufacturers ramping up gigantic new manufacturing and assembly facilities in Europe and the Far East, with a staggering cumulative total investment of more than US$18 billion.
        Merck, the world's leading manufacturer of liquid crystals with a market share of nearly 60 percent, will bring on stream a new plant in Darmstadt, Germany, during the second half of 2004. Merck currently employs 400 in its liquid crystals division, producing about 50 tons of liquid crystals annually in plants in Japan, Taiwan and Germany. The new plant, backed by an expected investment of 250 million euros ($314.6 million), will triple Merck's crystal capacity.
        Sharp Corp. began production of large-screen LCD TVs in January at its new 2,625-million-sq.-ft. (242,800-sq.m.) Kameyama Plant in Kameyama City, Japan. The huge facility, which will employ about 1,000, includes an LCD panel plant and an LCD TV plant. Total investment is 100 billion yen (US$932 million). Sharp will install a second production line in August. About half of the LCD panels manufactured at the plant will be supplied to other electronics manufacturers
        Another Japanese plant will receive part of the $600-million investment that Corning announced in February for the production of the high-tech glass associated with LCDs. The balance of that investment will go toward a plant in Taiwan.
        In Korea, the center of LCD production, Samsung and LG Philips LCD are building new facilities. Samsung is constructing a new LCD line in Asan to produce large-sized panels. In a joint venture with Sony, Samsung is building a $2-billion LCD fabrication plant in Tangjeong, set to open in summer 2005.

        LG Philips LCD, a joint venture between South Korean's LG Electronics and Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, is building a $2.46-billion plant in Gumi, south of Seoul. North of Seoul, in Paju, the company is constructing the world's biggest LCD plant, covering a 17.8-million-sq.-ft. (1.65-million-sq.-m.) complex, and estimated by analysts to be garnering an investment near $10 billion. Infrastructure is expected to be in place in 2005, with production starting up during the second half of 2006. In addition, the company just completed an expansion at its plant in Nanjing, China.
        Elsewhere in China, Tokyo-based NEC Corp. and Chinese concern SVA Group Co. are building a $792-million LCD plant in Shanghai. In Beijing, BOE Technology Co. is investing $1.2 billion in its own LCD plant.

Workers at Novo Nordisk's Biobras plant in Montes Claros, Brazil, inspect vials of insulin. The Danish pharmaceutical company expanded the plant's capacity by 60 percent last year and now plans to build a new facility nearby.

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is expanding its holdings in Brazil by investing more than $200 million in a new insulin production plant. The plant, to be located in Montes Claros in the State of Minas Gerais, will be dedicated to the formulation, filling and packaging of insulin products for the treatment of diabetes. Plans call for construction to begin during the first half of 2004 with initial production set for 2007.
        Novo Nordisk's expansion follows its acquisition of Biobras, a local insulin producer, also located in Montes Claros. Novo Nordisk expanded capacity at the facility by 60 percent.
        Brazil is the largest market for diabetes care products in Latin America. The disease is a growing problem in the country, with about 10 million people afflicted.