South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. outperformed its competitors in the U.S. flat panel TV market last year, becoming the biggest seller in the region for the seventh straight year, data showed Thursday.

Samsung’s U.S. market share reached a record high of 29.8 percent in 2012, up 1.7 percentage point from a year earlier, according to statistics released by the NPD Group, a leading North American market research company.

The company’s market share in the liquid-crystal display and light-emitting diode TV markets reached 27.3 percent and 40.3 percent, respectively, the data showed.

In the market for premium smart TVs and 3D TVs, the company’s share stood at 39 percent and 44.4 percent, respectively, far outpacing other electronic rivals in almost all sectors.

Samsung attributed its stellar performance in the U.S. market to enhanced marketing efforts on the back of its strong premium television lineup and brand power.

Samsung’s smaller domestic rival, LG Electronics Inc., claimed 10.2 percent of the U.S. TV market last year, followed by Sharp Corp. and Panasonic Corp., which held 7.1 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively, the data added.

Meanwhile, separate data by market researcher DisplaySearch showed that Samsung’s flat-panel TV market share reached 26.4 percent in the first nine months of 2012 in terms of revenue, up 2.7 percentage points from its 2011 market share. (Yonhap News)