AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the world’s third-largest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel maker, yesterday said China has become the biggest export destination for its products, aided by Beijing’s economic stimulus measures, which included subsidies for the purchase of flat-panel TVs.
Emerging markets — especially China whose economy is still on the rise — have become the main force supporting the recent pickup in orders, while consumption of electronics products in the US and Europe remained in the doldrums amid a bleak economic outlook, AU Optronics chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀) said at an industry forum.
“Most Chinese TV makers are customers of AU Optronics,” Lee said.
In the first four months of the year alone, shipments to China already reached 80 percent of AUO’s total TV panel shipments last year, Lee said.
This year, Chinese shares of AUO’s TV panel shipments are expected to climb to between 10 percent and 18 percent, compared with between 5 percent and 6 percent last year, the company said last month.
China may soon overtake the US to become the world’s biggest consumer of PCs, TV and other home appliances, as Chinese consumers are more willing to shop, supported by a growing GDP and government efforts to prop up consumer confidence, Lee said.
The Chinese economy rose by 6.1 percent annually in the first quarter, while most economies around the world dipped into negative territory, he said.
To benefit from the growth momentum in emerging markets, Lee said Taiwanese firms could seek more strategic partners.
For AUO, cooperation with Chinese firms would largely involve technological exchanges rather than capital investment, Lee said, answering a question about potential new capital injection from Chinese investors after the government’s plan to open more industries to Chinese investment.
Takashi Kadoura, a Japanese economist at BRIC Research Institute who joined yesterday’s panel discussion, said China would lead the global recovery, bolstered by the Beijing government’s US$4 trillion budget to stimulate domestic consumption.
Kadoura said that Asia and the BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — could recover faster from the economic downturn than other countries.
BRIC nations are less dependent on exports to the US to support GDP growth and domestic consumption is now the crucial element in boosting economic growth, he said, adding that these had helped cushion the effect of the global recession stemming from the subprime credit crisis in the US and Europe.
India is a good example, he said, with exports expected to account for less than 17 percent of its GDP this year and next year, compared with 30 percent roughly in 2000.
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