Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
"We expect to reach a shipment of between 10 million and 12 million flat-panel displays this year, up from about 7.2 million last year," financial director Eddie Chen (陳彥松) said.
Chen denied a Chinese-language business daily report, which quoted him as saying Acer Inc had ordered 2 million flat-panel displays for use as computer monitors from the company, accounting for one-fifth of Tainan-based Chi Mei's annual production capacity last year.
"I only said Acer is a key client for us, but we won't release the order details of our clients," Chen said.
The decline in prices of flat-panel liquid crystal displays (LCD) used in computers may slow down because there is little room left for makers of the products to cut prices, said Henry Wang (王鶴偉), a market researcher at Taipei-based WitsView Technology Corp (聯景科技) on Sept. 22.
Prices fell by about a 10th in the first two weeks of September as buyers cut inventories, the researcher said.
The slide, which started in the first half of the year after nearly 18 months of rises, ended last month as prices for benchmark 17-inch panels approached production cost, WitsView said.
Panel makers can maintain prices at this level this month, Wang said.
Global prices of LCDs, which have fallen faster than expected, may not rise again because supply is increasing and production costs are falling, DisplaySearch president Ross Young said.
Declining prices of monitors and televisions prompted the Austin, Texas-based researcher to lower its forecasts for third-quarter global LCD revenue to US$8.2 billion, or 3.5 percent less than an Aug. 23 projection, and cut its fourth-quarter forecast by 4.8 percent. Price declines may worsen unless LCD makers delay their schedules to open new plants, said Young.
"Prices won't increase, ever, based on our forecasts now," Young said during a DisplaySearch conference held in Seoul. "We're seeing the biggest capacity ramp-up in LCD history. We need to urge the LCD makers to slow down expansion."
With supply exceeding demand this year, about 10 LCD plants are scheduled to come online within a year, which would boost the global capacity of screens 52 percent in terms of area, according to an Oct. 8 Merrill Lynch and Co report. If some LCD makers delay their expansion plans, demand may exceed supply during the latter half of 2006, Young said.
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