Prices of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) have fallen to their lowest level since 2001 but the fourth quarter outlook will improve amid rising demand, according to AU Optronics Corp (
"As personal computer vendors like Dell Inc have begun to boost sales in LCD monitors, we believe the demand [for flat-panel displays] is recovering," AU Optronics chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀) told reporters on the sidelines of a company event on Saturday in Taichung.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Thanks to recent price declines, the LCD industry has seen a substantial inventory reduction in channel outlets and is preparing for the Christmas season. Therefore, Lee predicted a stronger shipment figure for September than the previous month.
Lee didn't disclose any figures, but analysts have forecast shipments to grow to some 1.5 million large-size flat-panel displays, up from 1.28 million units in August.
Prices of computer monitor screens have tumbled by a third since June after inventories of the displays piled up, Merrill Lynch analysts Jeffrey Su and Daniel Kim said in a Sept. 21 report. But prices are expected to stabilize on improving demand, smaller rivals like Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (
Prices to stabilize
"Owing to inventory recovering to a healthy level, LCD prices could stabilize in September and October," said James Wu (巫俊毅), chief financial officer of Chunghwa Picture, Taiwan's third-largest maker of LCDs used in televisions and computers.
"Clients have been keen to source notebook-computer panels from Chunghwa Picture starting from the second half this year."
Analysts expect Chunghwa Picture's shipment to recover to 870,000 displays last month.
Quanta Display also expected prices to hit the bottom this month, said vice president Tsai Chuan-chuan (
"We believe seasonal demand for the Christmas shopping spree will arrive to bolster falling panel prices," Tsai said.
Quanta Display, an LCD manufacturing arm of Quanta Computer Inc (
"Prices for LCD panels used in laptop computers will have a better chance of stabilizing, compared to LCD monitors," Tsai said. "Therefore, our fourth quarter sales are expected to exceed that of third quarter."
AU Optronics president Chen Hsuen-bin (
He made the remark in regard to news reports that LCD makers such as LG Philips have cut prices of computer monitor screens below the cost of production.
Next generation plants
LG Philips has started production at a new so-called sixth-generation factory in South Korea that is making screens for computer monitors instead of TVs, as was originally intended, because demand for flat-panel TVs has failed to meet expectations, Chen said.
While LCD monitor demand has showed a strong pickup, Chen remained cautious about the industry's outlook.
"Against the expectation of a demand pickup in the run-up to the Christmas holiday season it remains to be seen how this will be impacted by crude oil prices moving up to record levels," he said on the sidelines of a ceremony marking the joint donation of a building by his company and BenQ Corp (明基電通) to National Taiwan University.
Last month, both AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
AU Optronics was originally scheduled to set up an advanced 7th-generation (7G), or 7.5-generation (7.5G), factory in Taichung, central Taiwan, in 2006, while Chi Mei Optoelectronics decided to temporarily halt the construction of a 7.5G plant in Tainan.
A 7G, or 7.5G, plant is designed to cut LCD substrates mainly for 40-inch or larger flat-screen televisions.
Chunghwa Picture, however, said it's going ahead with expansion plans. The company will move in production equipment at a new 4.5-generation (4.5G) factory starting this month or next month, Wu said. Such factories make screens for notebook computers and computer monitors.
The company will open its first 6th-generation (6G) plant in the second-quarter next year. Sixth generation plants can make television screens measuring 32-inches diagonally and larger.
Color filters
Chunghwa Picture is also opening plants to supply components used in flat-panel displays. The company has started production of a color-filter plant for its 4.5G screens. The plant will reach full production of 160,000 units per month by the middle of next year.
The company is building another plant to make color filters for its 6G screens. The facility is scheduled to reach full capacity of 45,000 units by the fourth quarter of next year.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by