LG Display Co., the world's second-largest display maker, on Monday announced plans to invest 706 billion won ($652 million) in OLED TV facilities in efforts to strengthen its leadership in OLED technology.

The investment in the 8th generation OLED TV manufacturing line, set to be installed in the company's Paju plant in suburban Seoul, is scheduled to begin in the first quarter, LG Display said in a press release.

Mass production is set to begin in the first half of 2014 at a monthly capacity of 26,000 input sheets, according to the display maker.

The investment plan comes as global manufacturers are ramping up efforts to gain a bigger stake in the market for premium TVs, such as OLED TVs and ultra HD TVs.

The display maker's affiliate LG Electronics Inc. began pre-orders for its 55-inch OLED TVs last month, racing ahead of rival Samsung Electronics Co. in rolling out the large-display OLED TVs.

Earlier this month, the TV maker also announced plans to boost flat-panel TV sales by 15 percent on-year in 2013.

Worldwide shipments of OLED panels are expected to hit 29.96 million units by 2018, increasing more than 200-fold from 130,000 units forecast for this year, according to the data by market researcher NPD DisplaySearch.

By amount, OLED panel shipments are projected to reach $10.02 billion by 2018, compared with $295.75 million this year, according to the data. (Yonhap News)