Global shipments of flat panels used in computers and televisions grew a faster-than-expected 1.4 percent last quarter, driven by inventory restocking demand primarily for the anticipated Lunar New Year buying spree in China, a Taipei-based researcher said yesterday.
The growth beat WitsView’s original estimate of a 5 percent quarter-on-quarter contraction in shipments of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels worldwide.
“Market demand is strong. The fourth quarter is not as slow as it was before,” WitsView said in the report, indicating “a bullish first quarter.”
Global shipments of PC and TV flat panels expanded to 148 million units in the final quarter of last year with LCD monitors leading the rebound, compared to 146 million shipped in the third quarter, WitsView’s tallies showed.
The unexpectedly good recovery bodes well for the industry’s prospects, WitsView said, as last month’s upswing in demand for TVs ahead of the holiday shopping season in China in particular may extend into this quarter to sustain demand in the conventionally slack period.
The Chinese government’s enhanced subsidies for PC and TV purchases and PC replacements following the sales of Microsoft Corp’s Windows 7 system also helped, the researcher said.
“China’s TV demand will be a main driving force in the first quarter,” a WitsView analyst, who requested not to be named, said by telephone. “This quarter’s shipments may hold steady, or slide a bit [from the previous quarter].”
That means the first quarter could be better than the seasonal pattern as demand usually dwindles after the gift shopping season in the US and Europe, leading to a decline of about 5 percent quarter-on-quarter.
But WitsView expected that tight supply of key components including glass and some chips would carry into this quarter, the report said.
In the final three months of last year, the nation’s top LCD panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) said PC and TV panel shipments rose 2.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to 27.37 million units, while smaller rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) saw shipments fall 3.4 percent.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last