LCD Panel News Roundup
With FPD Taiwan in full swing, DigiTimes Asia was filled with stories on the LCD panel market this morning. Here is a quick summary:
AUO is featuring panels ranging in size from 1.6 to 46 inches, with applications as diverse as mobile phones, car displays, portable media players (PMPs), DSC/DVC (digital still cameras/digital video cameras), general displays, notebooks, monitors and TVs.
CMO is showcasing panels for mainstream uses such as car-use, notebooks, monitors and TVs while also introducing panels for special applications, including medical, industrial and aviation uses. The panel maker is also showing for the first time a full range of widescreen LCD monitor panels, with sizes ranging from 19 to 30 inches.
And don’t worry about the glut – the low prices will spur demand in the second half. That’s making lemonade for you.
Some first-tier LCD TV vendors have lowered their prices. Sony recently cut the price on one of its 40-inch LCD TVs (KDL-40S2000) by US$500 to US$2,499 while the price on a 32-inch LCD model (KDL-32S2000) was reduced US$200 to US$1,699, according to information from the company website.
Plus, shipments are doubling. At least, those who wanted to double shipments were able to cram them down someone’s throat.
HannStar Display said its affiliate HANNspree, a LCD TV maker, reached its shipment goal of 300,000 units for the second quarter, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN). During the first quarter, LCD TV shipments from HANNspree totaled 150,000 units, noted the paper, adding that the Taiwan-based LCD TV maker aims to ship one million units in the fourth quarter.
Mmm! A million units! That should really help spur demand! But watch out for the looming shortage:
Following with a recent report saying that Sony is seeking another LCD panel maker to supply it with panels amid a potential shortage, industry sources indicated that Taiwan-based AU Optronics (AUO) has landed 32-inch LCD TV orders from Sony, according to the Chinese-language Commercial Times.
For now, we’re assuming that the operative word is potential. Goodness knows there is enough notebook inventory to tide people over for a while.
Although Asustek Computer was slightly behind Acer in notebook shipments in China in the first quarter of this year, Jonathan Tseng, vice president of marketing at Asustek, said his company will overtake Acer in the second quarter because retailers and distributors in China are no longer cooperating with Acer to flood the market with notebooks.
Happy investing!
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