Sony, which trailed Samsung among worldwide liquid-crystal display television set makers in the first quarter, said last week that it expects to be the market leader in high-definition TVs by 2011. Also by then, Sony expects to return its LCD operations to profitability while building its Blu-ray-related operations into a business that will approach $10 billion in annual sales.

The company also said 90% of its electronics categories would be both network-connectable and wireless-enabled in an attempt to capitalize on its leadership position in LCD TVs, high-definition DVD players and game consoles.

For the first quarter, Sony’s 13% market share trailed only Samsung’s 20% among global LCD television units, though it was just one percentage point behind Samsung in dollars spent, NPD Group unit DisplaySearch said last month. In North America, the company was leapfrogged by closely held Vizio in units sold.

“Three years ago, we had no significant presence in the LCD television business,” Sony Chairman-CEO Howard Stringer said on a conference call last week. “Today, we are competing well for first place for worldwide market share due to the strength of our Bravia lineup.”

The company’s goal is to add Blu-ray disc-related operations to its portfolio of “trillion-yen businesses” ($9.45 billion), which include LCD TVs, gaming and mobile phones, by the year ending March 31, 2011, Sony said in a statement.

Studios and entertainment analysts have predicted that Blu-ray disc sales would more than triple this year to about $1 billion, largely because Toshiba discontinued its competing HD DVD format in February, spelling an end to the so-called “format war.”

The Entertainment Merchants Association said last week that Blu-ray disc revenue would surge to about $9.5 billion in 2012, overtaking sales of standard-definition discs in the process.

Sony last month said its electronics division’s operating income for the year ended March 31 more than doubled to 356 billion yen ($3.36 billion) as electronics sales rose 8.9% to 6.61 trillion yen ($62.5 billion). The company didn’t break out Blu-ray-related sales or earnings.