Taiwan's major flat-panel-display makers reported mixed results on sales and shipments last month, amid reports that they have almost used up their inventories in the second quarter and now face supply shortages of some components.
According to a Chinese-language newspaper report, the inventory of AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) -- Taiwan's top LCD panel maker -- fell to NT$15.1 billion (US$470 million) in the first quarter from NT$15.8 billion in last year's fourth quarter. The figure fell further in the second quarter, the report said, without providing exact figures.
The supply shortage has capped sales growth for the nation's panel makers, the newspaper said.
AU Optronics reported that unit shipments fell slightly last month but sales grew 3.7 percent to NT$15.95 billion, DigiTimes.com said yesterday on its Web site.
Shipments of AU Optronics' large-sized panels declined 0.2 percent to 2.37 million last month from May, while those of small-to-medium-sized panels dropped 7.3 percent to 3.68 million. For the first half of the year, the company saw shipments of large-sized panels increase 16.6 percent to 7.04 million units, while those of its small-to-medium-sized panels jumped 36.9 percent to 11.83 million units, DigiTimes reported.
As for Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), both sales and shipments dropped the most last month. The nation's second-largest flat-panel maker reported that sales fell 4.9 percent to NT$10.9 billion last month, while shipments fell 6 percent to 1.8 million units.
The company attributed the decrease to much stronger May shipments, when it was clearing out inventory, according to DigiTimes.
For the second quarter, Chi Mei estimates its sales and shipments stood at NT$32.89 billion and 5.47 million units, an increase over first-quarter figures of 13.6 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (
Chunghwa Picture recorded the highest growth rate in large-size-panel shipments of all panel makers, up 5.6 percent to 1.3 million units last month.
HannStar Display Corp's (
Quanta Display Inc (
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