Corning Inc., the world“s biggest maker of liquid-crystal-display glass for flat-screen televisions and computers has reported its results for the fourth quarter. After an alarming slowdown in late 2…
Corning Inc., the world“s biggest maker of liquid-crystal-display glass for flat-screen televisions and computers has reported its results for the fourth quarter. After an alarming slowdown in late 2008, LCD glass demand veered higher in February 2009 and has gradually picked up pace, lifting Corning“s stock. In December 2009, Corning announced that its fourth-quarter glass volume would probably be flat to up slightly, compared with its previous forecast of flat to down slightly. The company, which holds almost two-thirds of the LCD glass market, now expects the global industry“s volume to grow 16.7% to 2.8 billion sq.ft. in 2010, from an estimated 2.4 billion sq.ft. in 2009. According to market researchers, considerable price cuts contributing in driving LCD-TV sales during the December holiday season, and global LCD-TV revenue, is expected to rise in the January-March period compared to the same period in 2009, for the first time in six quarters. Analysts also foresee that LCD-TV shipments will increase 21% to 171 million units in 2010 from 141 million in 2009. Based in the city of Corning in western New York, US Corning, which was obliged to cut 3,500 jobs due to the recent market drop in LCD glass, also makes ceramic auto-pollution filters, optical fiber and cable, and presently employs 24,500 people.