SEOUL: LG Electronics said on Thursday it has established its first overseas research and development (R&D) lab for home entertainment products in Indonesia as part of its efforts to accelerate its inroads into the Southeast Asian TV market.
The 40,000-square-foot R&D lab in Cibitung, West Java, is located near LG’s existing TV manufacturing facilities in the city, which serve as the production hub for the Asian market, and is only 40 kms away from LG’s sales office in the capital city of Jakarta.
LG expected the regional R&D lab to allow the company to more effectively run its business from product development to delivery to end-users, reports Yonhap news agency.
Late last year, LG created a new post dedicated to product development in Indonesia, as the Cibitung plant has diversified the list of products it manufactures there over the past years.
LG said it plans to increase the number of local staff to around 500 by 2025 to enhance research competitiveness. The company did not reveal how many it has hired at the lab.
To support the subsidiary’s diverse research projects, LG is operating training programmes for TV R&D developers and plans to continuously hire experts to reach 500 employees by 2025.
The company will also strengthen its ties with local universities by launching industry-academic collaborations designed to uncover budding professionals.