Sanyo Electric Co. and Samsung Electronic Co. said Thursday they will jointly develop household air conditioners.

Sanyo and the South Korean firm will seek to strengthen global product competitiveness, improve development speed by efficiently utilizing both companies' research and development resources and introduce competitive products to overseas markets, including South Korea and Japan, the two companies said in a joint statement.

They will establish common product platforms and share key development information to achieve standardized product parts, which will further increase their cost competitiveness and enable them to jointly purchase and supply components.

The firms said a target of the agreement was a plan to jointly develop strategic global products that will use a new direct-current inverter and refrigerant developed for the 2004 model year.

Sanyo and Samsung will launch low-end models in December for sale in China and Southeast Asia, with first-year sales targeted at between 300,000 and 400,000 units by Sanyo and more than 500,000 units by Samsung.

Sanyo Vice President Yoichiro Furuse said the firm hopes its collaboration with Samsung will help Sanyo regain profitability in the air conditioner business in fiscal 2004.