Chinese TV maker Sichuan Changhong Electric Co Ltd (四川長虹集團) yesterday signed agreements to buy US$800m in TV panels from top Taiwanese flat-panel suppliers AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) and Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子).
That is the latest order placed with local LCD panel makers by a major Chinese TV maker. In January, TCL Corp (TCL 集團) and Haier Co (海爾) inked letters of intent to purchase US$5.3 billion in flat panels, up 20 percent from US$4.4 billion in orders made last year.
“We will buy US$800 million worth of flat panels. That will [supply our need] for the next year-and-a-half,” Sichuan Changhong chairman Zhao Yong (趙勇) told the Taipei Times on the sidelines of the signing ceremony in Taipei yesterday.
AUO is the biggest LCD TV panel supplier for Sichuan Changhong, followed by Chimei Innolux and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, Zhao said.
Last year, AUO and Sichuan Changhong invested 100 million yuan (US$14.65 million) to set up a joint venture to assemble TV and PC panel modules in China’s Sichuan Province.
Yesterday’s signing ceremony was arranged by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (外貿協會), a quasi-government agency that has been focusing on promoting closer trade between Taiwan and China.
Sichuan Changhong “should aim to secure flat panel supplies in the second half of this year as supply is expected to be tight,” said Corwin Lee (李秋緯), an LCD panel industry analyst with Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所).
Panel demand from Chinese TV manufacturers recently slowed, as they were digesting excessive inventories, which stemmed from weaker-than-expected TV sales during the Lunar New Year and Labor Day holidays, Lee said.
The days of inventory on Chinese TV makers were one week higher than the normal level at about 4 weeks, Lee said.
In related news, AUO, the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, yesterday said it planned to invest as much as HK$90 million (US$11.5 million) for a 15 percent stake in Hong-Kong-based LCD technology developer Ahead Investment Ltd (深圳超多維光電子有限公司), according to its filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The acquisition would help boost its 3D technological capabilities, company spokeswoman Hsiao Ya-wen (蕭雅文) said by telephone.
The investment would be made gradually via AUO’s subsidiaries.
Shares of AUO rallied 2.5 percent to NT$30.8, outperforming the benchmark TAIEX, which gained 1.17 percent yesterday. The stock price of Chimei Innolux rose 1.1 percent to NT$36.15.
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