Flat screen prices in Taiwan are down this month as the global flat panel sector enters a traditionally slow season in the first quarter of the year, a research report said on Saturday.
Prices for the first half of the month in all three major flat panel categories — TV screens, notebook computer panels and desktop computer displays — are declining, ending the rising streak seen over the past few months, the report said.
The report by DisplaySearch, a global display market advisory firm, said growth in panel prices showed signs of slowing in the second half of last month and is continuing into the first half of this month — usually a slow season for the sector.
In particular, demand for 32-inch screens, is declining, running counter to the trend in the last quarter of last year, the report said.
DisplaySearch reported an average price of US$128 for 32-inch TV panels for the first half of this month, down US$2 from the second half of last month.
For 32-inch screens without backlight modules, the average price is US$105, it said, adding that this was also a drop of US$2.
The average asking price for 39-inch light-emitting diode (LED) backlight TV panels remains little changed at US$225, while 40 to 46 inch backlit LED TV displays are showing a drop of about US$1 to between US$288 and US$360, DisplaySearch said.
In the desktop computer sector, the average asking price of 17-inch, 19-inch and 20-inch screens also remained unchanged in the first half of this month, while prices of 18.5-inch and 21.5-inch models have dropped US$0.50, DisplaySearch said.
For LED backlight screens for notebook computer use, average asking prices for 13.3-inch to 17.3-inch screens for the first half of this month showed a US$0.50 decrease from the second half of last month, it said aid.
Meanwhile, David Hsieh, DisplaySearch’s vice president for the greater China market, said he expects that Innolux Corp (群創) and AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), two major local flat panel makers, will this year break the global tablet computer supply dominance of their South Korean counterparts.
With Innolux and AUO gearing for an upgrade of production technology for 7 to 9 inch screens, they have a better chance of securing orders from Apple Inc, which is expected to launch its next version of the iPad Mini in the fourth quarter of this year, he said.
In addition to Apple, Hsieh said, Amazon.com Inc, which has devoted great efforts to developing its own tablet computers, has become another important potential buyer of Innolux’s and AUO’s products.
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