Due to fewer working days and seasonality, Taiwan“s flat-panel display industry value is expected to undergo a slight decrease from TWD 383.66 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, reaching TWD 379….
Due to fewer working days and seasonality, Taiwan“s flat-panel display industry value is expected to undergo a slight decrease from TWD 383.66 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, reaching TWD 379.13 billion (USD 12.92 billion) in the first quarter of 2011. The value of the small- to medium-size panel, colour filter (CF) and backlight unit (BLU) sectors are, however, expected to increase slightly in the first quarter thanks to surging demand for tablet PCs and LED products. During the fourth quarter of 2010, the global TFT-LCD panel market was weaker than expected, mainly due to weaker-than-expected sales during the year-end holiday amid slow recovery of the economy in Europe and the US, and high unemployment rates that made consumers more cautious about spending. The other reason was that vendors were still trying to clear out inventory in the China market. Panel prices and shipments were down in the fourth quarter of 2010 as panel makers adjusted utilization rates to avoid further losses. Price decreases of IT (notebook and monitor) panels were brought under control at the end of the fourth quarter, but TV panel prices continued to decrease. With the first quarter being the traditionally weak season, and with fewer working days, Taiwan“s large-size panel industry value is also expected to drop slightly to TWD 210.01 billion. In the small- to medium-size panel sector, increasing demand from the smartphone and non-iPad tablet PC segments will contribute in driving overall shipments in the first quarter of 2011, with industry value expected to increase by 2% to TWD 40.53 billion. Taiwan“s OLED value is expected to decrease to TWD 1.8 billion in the first quarter, once again due to seasonality and fewer workdays. The TN/STN sector will continue to drop by 4% to TWD 4.77 billion. The CF sector will see production value increase by about 1% to TWD 27.92 billion in the first quarter. And, even if CF makers continue to convert 4.5G and 5G CF production lines for touch panel production, LCD panel makers“ in-house CF capacity will continue to increase. The polarizer sector“s value is expected to decrease by 5.2% in the first quarter to TWD 19.44 billion, also due to fewer workdays. Taiwan“s government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) expects the glass substrate sector“s value to undergo a slight decrease to TWD 40.93 billion in the first quarter, adding that demand will stabilize if the TV inventory issue in China can be put under control. The BLU sector“s value is expected to increase by 4% to TWD 33.62 billion in the first quarter mainly because LED backlighting products“ penetration rates are expected to increase rapidly.