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BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- China will become the world's largest production base for display screens as early as 2019 as money flows into assembly lines, industrial associations have said.

Investment in assembly lines planned or under construction for producing display screens for TVs, computers, smartphones and other devices has reached 800 billion yuan (around 120 billion U.S. dollars).

LCD panels alone have received more than 500 billion yuan, according to data from the China Video Industry Association and the China Optics and Optoelectronics Manufacturers Association.

The associations expect the country will overtake the Republic of Korea (ROK) to have the largest production capacity globally.

In the first half of the year, the aggregate area of China's display shipments stood at 57 million square meters, a third of the world's total and second only to the ROK.

"The shipments will continue to improve with more production lines put into operation," said Yi Xianjing, a fellow with Beijing-based market research company All View Cloud.

China's display manufacturing has gained steam, with booming production and rising corporate profits. Domestic brands have also broken the dominance of imported high-end OLED panels.