France's THOMSON (whose turnover fell to EUR 4 bn in the first quarter of 2003) is to buy three cathode ray production lines in China from XINYUAN, whose total production exceeds 4 million tubes a year. The deal price has not been disclosed but is understood to be in the region of EUR 65 million. The deal will make the French electronics company the second largest producer of large scale cathode ray tubes in China, producing a forecast EUR 7 million units in 2004.