US computer monitor vendors Dell Inc and Hewlett Packard Co (HP) and China's Lenovo Group (聯想) may lose market share in the first half of the year after a major fire halted production lines at Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技), a major supplier, market researcher DisplaySearch said in its latest report.
The blaze could have a major impact on the landscape of the desktop liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitor industry in the first and second quarters in terms of share-shift, rather than improving the balance between supply and demand, the Austin, Texas-based researcher said in the report released on Friday.
"Brands such as Dell, HP and Lenovo could be impacted the most," DisplaySearch said.
Dell and HP ranked second and third globally in terms of LCD monitor sales, tracking behind Samsung Electronics Co, DisplaySearch said.
In a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange last week, Lite-On, the world's fifth-biggest contract manufacturer of LCD monitors, said a fire broke out on Feb. 3 at a factory in southeastern China, damaging 14 PC monitor production lines.
There was no damage to LCD TV screen production lines, it said.
Approximately one-fifth of LCD monitors sold by Dell, HP and Lenovo are manufactured by Lite-On, DisplaySearch said in an LCD monitor report in the third quarter of last year.
Dell has been losing market share to stand-alone monitor brand Samsung over the past few quarters and a disaster such as this could cut their share further in the coming months, DisplaySearch said.
The impact could be the most severe in the North American market, where Dell accounts for approximately 30 percent of monitor imports, it said.
Financial impact on Dell may not be that severe, but Dell could lose market share to brands that do not rely on Lite-On, the researcher said.
LG Electronics Inc and Taiwan's Acer Inc ranked No. 4 and No. 5 respectively, in terms of LCD monitor sales, DisplaySearch said.
Last week, Lite-On said it would temporarily convert part of its LCD TV screen production lines to make PC monitors during the traditionally slack season. The company said inventories would meet demand in the next one to two months.
No employees were hurt during the fire, Lite-On said in the statement. Lite-On said it has filed a damages claim with Ping An Insurer (Group) Co of China (
Shares of Lite-On closed at NT$47.35, up 0.74 percent, on Feb. 1, the last trading session of the local bourse before the Lunar New Year holidays.
The stock market is scheduled to reopen tomorrow.
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