Despite China’s rapid growth in panel production, it still needs more than 70 million panels from overseas suppliers a year, China’s “flat panel queen,” Bai Weimin (白為民), said yesterday in Taipei, insisting that Taiwanese vendors’ prospects in her country are good.
Bai, the deputy director of the China Video Industry Association, was trying to dispel fears among Taiwanese panel makers that they will lose market share in China as flat-panel vendors there aggressively expand their capacity with government support.
Chinese flat-panel makers have also aggressively moved to upgrade their technology by poaching Taiwanese personnel with high salaries and Beijing is even reportedly mulling an increase in duties on imported panels to protect its domestic industry.
Bai said China produces 120 million TVs every year, but its panel makers make only 47 million units.
She has been in Taipei this week to attend the Computex trade show.
Spending about US$4.5 billion on 27 million Taiwan-made panels this year, Bai said she expected to purchase a similar amount next year “if nothing goes wrong.”
At least 20 percent of China’s panel purchases this year will be 4K2K flat panels, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (外貿協會) said. It said Taiwan and China should cooperate more closely because Taiwan makes 80 percent of the world’s 4K2K flat panels, while 83 percent of the world’s 4K2K TVs are sold in China.
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