AU Optronics Corp (
Prices "are stabilizing," Lee Kun-yao (
Flat-screen prices have tumbled by more than a third since June, paring 18 months of gains for a US$36 billion industry dominated by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Hsinchu, Taiwan-based AU Optronics and larger rivals added to excess production capacity this year to meet expected demand for liquid-crystal display TVs measuring 32 inches diagonally and larger.
"Demand might explode next year," said Michael Ding (
AU Optronics shares rose 1.2 percent to NT$41.50 in Taipei. The benchmark TAIEX fell 0.04 percent to 5,911.63.
The comments from AU Optronics's Lee reinforce the view spreading among some industry executives that flat-screen prices are beginning to stabilize.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (
Samsung Electronics expects LCD TV shipments to rise 77 percent to 16 million units next year from 9 million this year, it said. Austin, Texas-based market researcher DisplaySearch Corp earlier this year forecasted LCD TV shipments would more than double to 12 million units from a year ago.
The decline in LCD prices will continue in the first two weeks of December, according to WitsView Technology Corp (
The price of a desktop monitor screen measuring 15 inches diagonally will fall to US$140 from US$155 a month ago, Taipei-based WitsView said on its Web site on Dec. 7. The price of a 17-inch screen will drop to US$160 from US$170, it said.
"We can view US$150 for a 17-inch screen as the bottom," said Timothy Chen (
Screen buyers will probably cut inventory by the end of this year and start replenishing stocks, according to George Chang, an analyst with Citigroup Global Markets in Taipei.
Still, excess supply remains a concern for some investors and producers. AU Optronics in September said prices have fallen "unreasonably" because rivals are adding to overcapacity.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to