LG Electronics Inc, the world’s third-largest maker of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions, aims to overtake Sony Corp as the second-biggest this year, driven by stronger-than-expected demand.
The company is maintaining its LCD TV-shipment target of 18 million units for this year, which will be achievable, Simon Kang, head of the company’s home-entertainment division, told reporters in Seoul yesterday.
Global revenue from LCD TVs will drop 6 percent this year to US$76 billion, researcher DisplaySearch said last week, higher than its previous estimate of US$66 billion. Worldwide LCD TV shipments will rise 21 percent to 127 million units, compared with an earlier prediction of 120 million, because of higher demand from China and as more consumers replace bulkier glass-tube sets, according to the Austin, Texas-based research firm.
The South Korean company yesterday introduced its latest LCD TVs using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as backlights instead of conventional fluorescent lights.
Global shipments of LCD TV panels with LED backlights will increase to 3.3 million units this year compared with 438,000 last year, according to researcher iSuppli Corp this month.
LED backlights, illuminated by glowing chips and used in products such as Apple Inc’s laptop computers, are brighter and consume less power than conventional fluorescent tubes.
LG expects global shipments of LCD TVs with LED backlights to rise almost 10-fold to 30 million units next year from 3.1 million this year. The firm aims to sell 400,000 sets this year and 3 million to 4 million units next year.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
LIMITED IMPACT: Investor confidence was likely sustained by its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as only less advanced chips are made in Nanjing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) saw its stock price close steady yesterday in a sign that the loss of the validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing, China, fab should have a mild impact on the world’s biggest contract chipmaker financially and technologically. Media reports about the waiver loss sent TSMC down 1.29 percent during the early trading session yesterday, but the stock soon regained strength and ended at NT$1,160, unchanged from Tuesday. Investors’ confidence in TSMC was likely built on its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as Chinese customers contributed about 9 percent to TSMC’s revenue last
Taiwan and Japan will kick off a series of cross border listings of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this month, a milestone for the internationalization of the local ETF market, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said Wednesday. In a statement, the TWSE said the cross border ETF listings between Taiwan and Japan are expected to boost the local capital market’s visibility internationally and serve as a key for Taiwan becoming an asset management hub in the region. An ETF, a pooled investment security that is traded like an individual stock, can be tracked from the price of a single stock to a large and
Despite global geopolitical uncertainties and macroeconomic volatility, DBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) yesterday reported that its first-half revenue rose 10 percent year-on-year to a record NT$16.5 billion (US$537.8 million), while net profit surged 65 percent to an unprecedented NT$4.4 billion. The nation’s largest foreign bank made the announcement on the second anniversary of its integration with Citibank Taiwan Ltd’s (花旗台灣) consumer banking business. “Taiwan is a key market for DBS. Over the years, we have consistently demonstrated our commitment to deepening our presence in Taiwan, not only via continued investment to support franchise growth, but also through a series of bolt-on acquisitions,” DBS