Samsung and LG Display, the world’s two biggest makers for flat panels for televisions, have won approval from a key Chinese government body and are set to become the first foreign groups to build advanced LCD panel plants in the country.

Samsung said that it plans to spend 18 months building a Won2,600bn ($2.3bn) plant in Suzhou that will make 7.5-generation LCD panels. LG wants to build a more advanced 8.5-generation site in Guangzhou for $4bn. Final approval for the investments still has to come from China’s commerce ministry, but Samsung said that it was “virtually a done deal”.

The approval, from the National Development & Reform Commission, represents a milestone in the transfer of complex, high-tech production to China. While Chinese companies have long assembled flat-screen TVs largely using Taiwan-made LCD panels, they have lacked the technical expertise to produce large-sized panels themselves.