LCD-TV makers set to turn a buck in the year ahead

With global demand of flat-panel TVs on the rise, coupled with positive reactions from buyers at Computex Taipei this week, Taiwanese liquid-crystal display (LCD) TV makers are upbeat about their industry's outlook over the next six months.

"Foreign buyers' reactions [to our LCD-TVs] were very impressive," said Aubrey Du (杜振華), a senior director of Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機), the nation's largest maker of industrial motors and a major home-appliance manufacturer.

He said the company has received a number of orders to ship LCD-TVs to the US ahead of the holiday season.

"We are talking with several major retailers, such as US-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Best Buy Co, as well as Dixon Group Plc from the UK," Du said.

The company plans to make LCD-TVs on an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) basis for sale under the retailers' brand-names, and also sell a small number of Teco brand-name LCD-TVs in their stores, he added.

"We expect to see a significant sales increase, shipping nearly 150,000 LCD-TVs in the first quarter of next year," Du said.

LCD-TVs will become a booming sector over the next few years, with sales expected to rise an average annual rate of 87 percent, to 31 million units, in 2007, according to Texas-based DisplaySearch.

Taiwan is the world's second-largest center of production for LCD screens after South Korea. Many Taiwanese manufacturers started exporting LCD-TVs as early as the middle of this year.

NextGen Mediatech Inc (新視代), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiwan's second-largest flat panel maker, Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), said LCD-TV shipments are expected to peak early next year.

"It is a little bit late to place orders for this year's holiday season, therefore many buyers we met at Computex said they are considering making purchases for early next year," Doreen Chen (陳麗蓉), a sales manager at Nextgen, said.

NextGen launched its LCD-TV line earlier this month under the name "Polyvision."

"Our strategy is to sell Polyvision products in the Greater China market as an effort to understand consumer preferences and to link up with companies from the US and Europe on an OEM basis," said Nextgen spokesman Richard Hung (洪英欽).

Foreign companies are impressed with Taiwan's manufacturing abilities.

"Taiwan is well-known for its capability in making IT products, and therefore we came to the show to make some contacts," said Fernando Wendehake D., general manager of GW Technologies from Panama.

However, another overseas buyer said Taiwanese have a lot of progress to make in product design.

"The design is ugly ? it would be hard for me to sell it in Europe," said Michael Meerzoumen, vice president of Cibox, a home appliance distributor from France.

Taiwanese manufacturers are good at cutting operational costs and boosting efficiency, but they need to improve their product design, he said.