Liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel makers are expected to be under growing pressure to cut prices for computer screens in the second half of this month on weakening demand in the traditionally slack first quarter, a Taipei-based market researcher said yesterday.
Aggravating the downtrend in prices, LCD manufacturers produced panels at full speed expecting a shortage later this year, WitsView Technology Corp (
The optimism stemmed from replacement demand for digital TVs because of the Beijing Olympics in August and the termination of analogue TV signals in the US next March, WitsView said.
"Amid a market demand slowdown and a gradual increase in the inventory levels, panel price pressure continues to grow," WitsView said in the report.
Prices for computer screens may drop 1 percent or 2 percent in the second half of this month from two weeks ago, WitsView's latest forecast said.
A mainstream 19-inch computer panel may fall 1 percent to US$147 per unit, the researcher said.
WitsView's comments matched a forecast by LG Philips LCD Co (LPL), the world's second-largest LCD panel supplier. LPL told investors earlier this month that its average selling price may drop by a low single digit percentage this quarter from last quarter.
Taiwan's top LCD panel maker AU Optronics Corp (
In contrast to the price decline in computer panels, the prices for 37-inch wide sreen televisions and smaller sized television screens are expected to hold steady in the second half of this month, compared to the first two weeks, underpinned by strong demand from TV vendors, WitsView said.
But growing supply for 40-inch and bigger TV screens would drive the price to fall further at moderate pace, WitsView said.
WitsView expected the price for 42-inch panels to slide 1 percent, or US$5, to US$540 on average.
Overall, supply constraint in TV panels would ease in the near future on seasonal factors, the research house said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”