AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s second-biggest LCD panel maker, yesterday posted a 4.1 percent sequential decline in revenue for last quarter after revenue contracted to a five-month low last month amid a downturn in panel prices amid tepid demand.
Revenue shrank 5.7 percent to NT$33.4 billion (US$1.1 billion) last month from NT$35.41 billion in November, because of tepid demand across the board, a company statement said.
That brought last quarter’s revenue to NT$102.73 billion, down 4.1 percent quarter-on-quarter from NT$107.08 billion, it showed.
Shipments of TV and PC panels shrank 1.6 percent month-on-month to 10.34 million units last month, the statement said. Shipments of small and medium-sized flat panels for phones and tablets dropped 6.9 percent to 12.79 million units, it said.
During the three-month period to last month, shipments of TV and PC panels grew 2.8 percent sequentially to 30.17 million units, while shipments of small and medium-sized panels fell 6.6 percent to 41.18 million units, the firm said.
Meanwhile, the nation’s top LCD panel maker, Innolux Corp (群創光電), said its revenue was flat at NT$97.219 billion last quarter, after posting a slight 0.3 percent monthly decline last month. In the third quarter, Innolux made NT$97.217 billion in revenue.
Shipments of TV and PC panels contracted 4.7 percent to 32.73 million units last quarter from 34.35 million units in the previous quarter, better than a high single-digit percentage quarterly decline previously forecast.
Small and medium-sized panel shipments grew 4.4 percent to 99.53 million units last quarter, better than the firm’s forecast of a single-digit percentage decline.
Price for standard 40-inch TV panels fell 10 percent quarter-on-quarter to US$144 per unit last quarter, according to market researcher NPD DisplalySearch.
Oversupply and excessive inventory offset the inventory buildup demand from Chinese TV makers ahead of Lunar New Year holiday, driving down the price further by two percent in the first half of this month to US$141, according to the research house.
HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶), which supplies flat panels for mobile devices, yesterday said its revenue grew 3.3 percent to NT$1.96 billion last month from NT$1.87 billion in November, pushing its quarterly revenue down 26 percent to NT$6.25 billion from the previous quarter.
Small and medium-sized panel shipments increased 30.4 percent to 35.77 million units month-on-month, while those used in its own-brand PC monitors plunged 21 percent to 71,000 units, it said.
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