Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it will begin producing 46-inch transparent liquid-crystal displays by the end of this month, becoming the world’s sole manufacturer of such displays.

The new transparent display, the second attempt made by the global IT giant, is currently expected to be placed in refrigerator doors with the cooperation of some U.S. firms, according to Samsung officials.

Locally, the 46-inch displays will also be installed as the screen doors for the subway stations on subway Line No. 2 with the assistance of its affiliate Samsung SDS, company officials said.

The launch of 46-inch see-through LCD displays comes after the company released the 22-inch transparent displays into the market last year.

According to industrial market research firm Displaybank, the market for transparent displays is expected to sharply grow to amount to 33 trillion won in 2020, from 1 trillion won in 2015.

Not only that, the displays are projected to be used for electronic boards, transparent glass walls, bus station signboards, smart windows and as display screens for various mobile devices.

“The transparent LCDs are products that contain limitless potential as they could be named the next-generation display technology,” said a Samsung official. “Through our lineup of transparent displays, we plan to create a new market and make it our new growth engine that could drive up the globally sluggish LCD industry.”

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)