Facing the challenges of a slowing global economy and rising competition in the market, Taiwan’s flat-panel industry will come out ahead and see another 10 years of prosperity on new applications and technologies, the organizer of a flat-panel trade show said yesterday in Taipei.
Major panelmakers such as AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達), Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (華映) are among the 280 exhibitors that will show their latest technological innovations at the 2012 International Touch Panel and Optical Film Exhibition at the Nangang Exhibition Hall. The fair will run through tomorrow.
Through innovation and strategic partnerships, Taiwan’s flat-panel industry will be able to exert its influence in the global panel industry and face good years ahead, AUO president Paul Peng (彭雙浪), who is also chairman of the Taiwan Display Union Association, said in his opening speech at the show.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
AUO is showcasing panels of various sizes, including 3D displays, 4K by 2K ultra-high-resolution displays, multi-touch panels and active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays for different applications, such as TVs, monitors, mobile PCs, general displays and mobile devices.
Chimei is exhibiting their TFT-LCD displays and technologies focusing on high resolution and green power.
Chinese panelmakers have recently gained market share in the mainstream 32-inch TV panels, but Chimei spokesman Lin Chen-hui (林振輝) yesterday shrugged off worries about the company’s competitiveness.
Lin said the company’s 39-inch and 50-inch LCD TV panels had gained popularity in China and that it could provide customers with other panel options with better technologies.
Moreover, the company is expected to launch 58-inch LCD TV panels in the second half, as part of its efforts to grab a bigger share in the 55-inch to 60-inch TV panel segments.
Currently, the company has achieved a yield rate of up to 80 percent in the 58-inch LCD TV panels segment, a figure the company has targeted to lift to 90 percent within three months, Lin said.
Meanwhile, Peng said he welcomed the government’s move to relax regulations on Chinese investments in Taiwan’s flat-panel industry.
Local media have reported that some Chinese TV brands are willing to buy shares in Taiwanese panelmakers to secure supplies with better technologies.
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