Samsung Electronics Co, the world's second-largest flat panel maker, plans to further trim prices of TV screens in a bid to stimulate new demand for liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TVs, a high-ranking official said yesterday in Taipei.
"As an LCD panel supplier, Samsung will slightly cut prices for LCD TV panels in order to further boost demand for LCD TVs in a race between LCD TVs and PDP [plasma display panel] TVs [in the large-sized TV area]," said Park Keun-hee, chief executive of Samsung Group's "Greater China" branch.
Park declined to give a specific figure for the price adjustment, saying that it would primarily depend on the market situation.
Price for the mainstream 32-inch LCD panel would fall to around US$565 per unit in the second half of this month, according to online market researcher WitsView.
Park is the highest-ranking official from Samsung to visit Taiwan. He was in town announcing his company's sponsorship of the National Palace Museum's 80th anniversary exhibition as well as an art-education program.
Park said demand for all segments including computers and TV will be strong in the July to December period.
Despite robust demand, prices for LCD TVs will continue to edge lower in the fourth quarter in an attempt to spur new demand for the stylish sets, Park said.
This year, sales of LCD TVs would more than double to 20 million units, from around 8 million last year, according to market researcher DisplaySearch's projections.
Despite the rapid growth in the slim-screen TVs, market researchers DisplaySearch and iSuppli have foreseen a supply glut in the near term. Park is not so pessimistic.
"That situation may not be as bad as they thought. Uncertainties include how big the new production will actually turn out to be next year and [how tight] component supply is," he said.
DisplaySearch forecast that supply would exceed demand by around 9 percent in the first quarter of the year after AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and its South Korean rivals started to crank out massive glass substrates, primarily for television screens, from their new plants during this period.
iSuppli Corp warned that oversupply would widen to 6.2 percent in the final quarter of the year, compared to the previous estimate 4.2 percent. Demand for TV panels would fall short of expectations as high oil prices could hurt consumption during the Christmas holidays, iSuppli said.
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