Taiwanese flat-panel makers are expected to see panel prices dip beginning next quarter due to growing shipments from cost-effective fifth-generation (5G) plants, which will put an end to a rise of five straight quarters, industry watchers said yesterday.
"There's the likelihood of a price decline in the third quarter as shipments will increase rapidly due to better yield rates [on 5G fabs] and improved supply of key components," said Wang Chien-erh (王建二), president of industry researcher DisplaySearch's local branch.
"The drop, if materialized, will erode some profits from flat-panel makers' strong growth," Wang said.
Panel prices were expected to hold steady in the April to June quarter, reversing a crash due to a supply glut as industry watchers projected previously, Wang said.
Another analyst said it's almost certain that prices for 19-inch panels for computers will fall in the third quarter.
"I won't be surprised about a drastic drop of some US$10 per unit per month in the coming quarter," said Tim Chen (
"Some panel makers already started trimming panel prices this month," he said.
Blended prices for large-sized, or bigger than 10-inch, panels rebounded to US$273 a unit, or up some 45 percent, in the first three months of this year, from the bottom of US$187 hit in the last quarter of 2002, according to the statistics provided by AU Optronics Corp (
Chen said he expects 17-inch panels for computers will drop more moderately in the third quarter, while 15-inch panels for laptops are expected to hold stable as of the year-end, lifted by strong demand.
In the second quarter, global flat-panel makers are expected to ship about 32.19 million flat panels, up 6 percent from 30.32 million from the previous quarter, according to DisplaySearch.
"In the traditionally slow second quarter, the growth is pretty good and the shipments will be even higher in the third quarter," Wang said.
The Austin-based researcher predicted the shipments will add another 4 percent, or 5 percent on the second quarter's 32.19 million units.
AU Optronics, the world's No.3 supplier of flat panels, said shipments of panel for computers and liquid-crystal-display panels expanded 3.7 percent last month from that of April, while medium and small-sized panel shipments jumped 10.3 percent.
AU hit a new sales record of NT$16.66 billion in sales last month, up 4 percent from April.
The nation's flat-display panel industry is expected to grow by nearly 40 percent in sales to NT$500 billion this year, according to a projection made in March by local private research house Photonics Industry and the Technology Development Association (
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