Taiwan's sales of flat-panel monitors, which are replacing bulkier cathode-ray tube displays in personal computers, will double this year after lower prices spurred demand, according to a report issued yesterday by the government run Market Intelligence Center.
Taiwanese companies secured about half of the global market for the screens during the first quarter, the research agency said. Sales of Taiwan-based companies such as Benq Corp will reach US$6.3 billion this year, up sharply from US$3.1 billion a year ago.
The thin monitors are increasingly used with personal computers because they use less desktop space, consume less power and emit no radiation compared with the cathode-ray tube displays.
Demand surged during the fourth quarter as flat-panel prices fell to a record low during a global slump in the electronics industry.
Prices of liquid-crystal display screens, which are used in the monitors, are rising and will continue to increase during the second quarter because of growing demand, the research agency said. Demand growth may slow during the second half because of higher prices.
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The local TFT-LCD panel industry is racing to see which company will be the first to construct an advanced panel-making plant, dubbed a "fifth-generation plant."t. Quanta Display Inc (
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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