LG Display who is the world's third-largest maker of liquid crystal display, LCD televisions, aims to overtake Sony this year pushing the Company into third slot behind Samsung and Sony. 

In a statement issued this week in Korea LG said that they are maintaining its LCD TV shipment target of 18 million units in 2009 despite the economic downturn.

Simon Kang, the head of LG's home-entertainment division, which was formed in December after combining the display and media businesses, makes flat-panel TVs, plasma screens and audio and video products said that LG aims to increase sales of flat-panel TVs by 42 percent this year and boost market share with new products and technologies. Among the new products will be new large sized OLED TV's. 

LG claim that shipments of LCD TVs may rise 50 percent to 18 million sets this year, while plasma models will probably climb 7 percent to 3 million units.

DisplaySearch said last week that global revenue from LCD TVs will drop 6 percent this year to $76 billion this year. They had originally forecast revenues of $66 billion.

LG Electronics will continue to gain market share in LCD TVs in the second half and may surpass Sony as the world's second-largest maker in the current quarter, Henry Kim, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., wrote in a report this month.