Hyundai Collaborates with Academia in Plasma Display Panel Venture

Seoul, Korea, August 1, 2000 — Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd. recently contracted with Seoul City University to establish Ultra Plasma Display, Inc. (UPD), a business venture that will focus on product diversification and development of next-generation display technology. The UPD business entity will operate as a separate division of Hyundai”s Plasma Display Panel (PDP) business unit, consistent with Hyundai”s management objective of avoiding dilution of its focus on core businesses. UPD, Inc. began operation with a capital investment of 500 million won, with plans to secure an additional 7 billion won through the second issue of new shares. In addition, Hyundai plans to invest approximately 9 billion won by the end of this year. The terms of the venture agreement allow UPD to use clean room space and related equipment provided by Hyundai in order to speed development of next-generation display technology. Professor Sun Woo Park of Seoul City University brings expertise in the fundamentals of process simplification pertaining to PDP technology. The combination of Professor Park”s know-how and the technology of Hyundai”s PDP division is expected to generate a high level of synergy that will fuel this collaborative development effort. UPD will focus on development of larger-than-60-inch XGA(Extended Graphics Array) and High Definition TV, as well as 42-inch VGA(Video Graphics Array) -level digital TV. This new venture will also explore opportunities in the IT monitors business, including computer monitors. Although conglomerates frequently separate their business divisions, it is less common to separate businesses by forming venture agreements with the academic world, as in this case. Hyundai management believes, however, that this collaboration with academia will facilitate greater product diversification for Hyundai”s PDP business unit. The company has announced sample availability of 26-inch wide PDP products resulting from research and development that has been taking place since 1996