The worldwide LCD market continues to explode and shows no signs of slowing with price wars and revolutionary new products on the horizon.

Global shipments of LCD TVs are expected to top eight million for the first half of this year, according to iSuppli.

And it predicts this figure could rise to 12 million in the second half of 2005 as suppliers continue to cut their prices.

Sharp has now announced a new product which it hopes will keep it at the forefront of the LCD race.

It expects to generate Y10 billion in sales this fiscal year from two new types of LCD panels, one of which allows viewers to watch two programmes simultaneously.

It all depends on where the viewer is sitting in the room as to what they will be able to see on the screen.

Head of Sharp's LCD business, Mikio Katayama, told a news conference: "Take a typical family where the mother likes to watch dramas and the father likes to watch baseball or soccer.

"Now they can watch them together on the same screen."

The other new display from Sharp allows users to narrow or widen the viewing angle by means of an electrical switch.

The company hopes these new products will help give it a ten per cent boost in operating profit to Y61 billion on a 15 per cent rise in sales to Y830 billion.

Meanwhile, in America, HP and Dell have started a price war to gain dominance of the US LCD computer screen market.

Market researchers at Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices have predicted that global sales of flat panel TVs will rocket by 66 per cent this year, with the use of pgms in the manufacturing process potentially yielding rewards for platinum producers.