Sharp is the world's sole operator of an eighth-generation LCD line, which uses 2,160 x 2,460-mm substrates. The panel announced Sunday is the largest size that can be laid out on the glass substrate.

The new television will be available by midyear, said Sharp, which did not disclose pricing.

LG Philips LCD announced development of a 100-inch LCD panel last March, at its seventh-generation production facility. With the size competition now topping 100 inches, LCDs have surpassed the size of plasma display panels.

"Clearly, LCD TV is now the undisputed best flat-panel screen technology . . . with far higher resolution than plasma," said Toshihiko Fujimoto, president and chairman of Sharp Electronics Corp.

Samsung Electronics and Sony announced last April that they will jointly build an eighth-generation line at S-LCD, their joint venture. The line is scheduled to begin operation this fall using 2,200 x 2,500-mm glass substrates.

Before that happens, however, Sharp plans to secure its lead in producing large-sized panels by doubling the capacity of its eighth-generation line. The line, at Kameyama fab 2, will go to 30,000 glass substrates per month in January, two months earlier than originally planned.

Sharp is beefing up its presence in the world LCD TV market after starting the eighth-generation line at Kameyama last August. DisplaySearch reported that Sharp rose from the third place to second on a unit basis and from the fourth place to third on a revenue basis in global LCD TV shipments in the third quarter of 2006.