With prices of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels seeing a gradual drop, Fitch Ratings yesterday said more mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are likely to happen among second-tier panel makers as they seek to increase economies of scale.
"With the declining trend in panel prices, we expect more challenges for the lagging companies to keep pace with the frontrunners," Kevin Chang (張崇人), associate director for corporate affairs in the Asia-Pacific region, told reporters.
These mid-level makers have a more restrained product mix and lower capital spending to fund the establishment of newer factories, and therefore will feel the pressure as panel prices are declining, he added.
"They'll have to resort to M&As for survival, or they'll need to find a niche product line other than the common notebooks or monitors to ensure competitiveness," he said.
Those who can satisfactorily address product mix, cost management and client needs will be the best positioned to maintain their lead, he said.
LCD panel prices for notebooks, monitors and laptops have shown a gradual decrease in recent years, while experiencing a drastic drop in 2004, he said.
"Electronics products are not necessities and purchasing decisions vary from time to time, being mainly dependent on lower price tags," Chang said.
The nation's second-tier panel makers, such as Hannstar Display (瀚宇彩晶) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管), have been feeling the heat since AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world's third-biggest LCD maker, announced plans to merge with the smaller player Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子) on April 7.
The combined entity will create an LCD panel supplier whose market share could potentially exceed that of leaders Samsung Electronics Co and LG Philips LCD Co, according to iSuppli Corp.
In terms of Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
Fitch Ratings also said that LCD TVs will be the new cash cow for panel makers to jump onto.
"As most countries are making a push to switch from analog TV broadcasting to digital between next year and 2012, LCD televisions will enjoy greater popularity among households," Chang said.
DisplaySearch forecasted that LCD penetration in television displays will rise to 46 percent in 2009, from 22 percent this year.
Meanwhile, iSuppli said in a report last Thursday that makers of plasma displays, which rival LCDs, are also being hindered.
"Profitability has been challenging for the majority of plasma-display makers, despite rising consumer uptake of plasma TV sets," the report said.
"Multiple factors are driving consolidation in the market, including swiftly declining panel prices, slower sales growth and increasing competition with alternative technologies in the large-screen TV market," it said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day