BEIJING, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- TCL Corp, China's leading TV maker, has announced to launch a 8.5 generation TFT-LCD production line in alliance with the government of Shenzhen city, southern Guangdong Province, China Daily reported Wednesday.

    TCL said that the thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) production line would be set up with an investment of nearly 24.5 billion yuan (3.59 billion U.S. dollars).

    TCL and Shenzhen government-owned Shenchao Technology Investment Ltd would form a 50-50 joint venture with each investing 5 billion yuan.

    The remaining 14.5 billion yuan would be raised via bank loans and other methods, said Li Dongsheng, TCL Chairman.

    Construction of the TFT-LCD panel project is scheduled to begin in January and production likely to start in the third quarter of 2011. The new venture is likely to get full returns from its investment in 10 years.

    Shares of TCL Corp continued the bullish trend in the morning trading session after surging by the daily limit of 10 percent Tuesday, driven by the news on the new project, China Daily reported.