Flat-panel maker Innolux Corp (群創) became the second-largest TV panel supplier in the world in the first quarter of this year, according to market advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技).
Innolux shipped 9.94 million TV panels globally in the first quarter, down 9.3 percent from the previous quarter, due to slowing demand for some high-priced TV panels, including 39.5-inch models, TrendForce said on Monday last week.
Another factor was the company’s failure to increase its yield rates for high-end TV panel production, it said.
South Korea’s LG Display Co maintained its No. 1 ranking, shipping 12.63 million TV panels in the first quarter, down 7 percent from the previous quarter as part of its TV panel production capacity was allocated to other types of screens, TrendForce said.
China’s BOE Technology Group (京東方) ranked third with shipments of 9.41 million TV screens, down 2.8 percent from a quarter earlier, while another Chinese company, China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co (華星光電), was ranked fourth with shipments of 8.97 million TV panels, a 3.3 percent quarterly decline, TrendForce said.
South Korea’s Samsung Display Co fell from No. 2 to No. 5 in the global ranking, with a 27.6 percent quarterly decline in shipments to 8.86 million units after it discontinued its seventh-generation production line in December last year, TrendForce said.
Taiwan’s AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) remained in sixth place, posting first-quarter shipments of 6.63 million TV panels, down 6.7 percent from a quarter earlier, TrendForce said.
Global shipments of TV panels totaled 60.16 million in the first quarter, down 10.7 percent from the previous quarter, according to the data.
In other tech-related news, outbound sales of Taiwan-made memory chips soared about 40 percent annually in the first quarter on the back of demand for Internet of Things and automotive electronics applications, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
In the January-to-March period, Taiwan’s exports of memory chips totaled US$2.37 billion, up 39.1 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said on Tuesday last week.
The increase was driven by higher demand in a wider range of applications and high-tech devices as the global economy showed signs of a recovery, the ministry said.
Another factor was a relatively low comparison base in the same period last year, when inventory adjustments were in progress, the ministry said.
China and Hong Kong have been the top market for Taiwanese memory chips and remained so in the first quarter, accounting for 76.6 percent of total exports, the ministry added.
China and Hong Kong together bought US$1.82 billion worth of memory chips from Taiwan, up 35.3 percent from a year earlier, with DRAM chips accounting for 66.3 percent of the total, the data showed.
Singapore was the second-largest destination, absorbing 8.3 percent of Taiwan’s memory chip exports, followed by Japan (5.8 percent), South Korea (2.2 percent), the US (1.6 percent) and Germany (1.4 percent), according to the data.
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