Innolux Corp (群創) reclaimed the top spot in the world’s LCD TV panel industry last month, buoyed by robust replacement demand from Southeast Asia and other emerging markets, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday.
The Miaoli-based company had yielded the leading position to South Korea’s LG Display Co in 2015 and last year, as it focused on prioritizing returns on investment over expensive capacity expansion.
Innolux, a flat-panel manufacturing arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), saw LCD TV panel shipments surge 28.9 percent to 3.94 million units last month from July, beating LG Display’s 3.8 million units, according to TrendForce statistics.
The company shipped 28.6 percent more 23.6-inch and 32-inch TV panels last month from the prior month, benefiting from increasing replacement of bulky cathode-ray-tube TVs with LCD TVs in developing countries, the Taipei-based researcher said.
The company also more than doubled its shipments of 50-inch TV panels to an all-time high of 867,000 units last month, as lower panel prices stimulated demand, TrendForce said.
Another Taiwanese LCD panel maker, AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), saw monthly growth of 4.3 percent in TV panel shipments last month, which TrendForce attributed to rising demand for 32-inch and 39-inch TV panels, as well as the company’s production flexibility in responding to customer demand.
Overall last month, global shipments of LCD TV panels rose 8.2 percent to 32.02 million units from a month earlier, fueled by declining panel prices and seasonal demand ahead of China’s National Day and holiday seasons in Europe and the US, TrendForce said.
“TV brands have become more confident about market demand after seeing strong sales results in China on June 18 and Aug. 18 through online stores,” TrendForce research manager Iris Hu (胡家榕) said in a report released yesterday.
Hu expects demand to grow significantly later this quarter as the holiday shopping season nears.
BOE Technology Group Co (京東方), the world’s No. 3 LCD panel maker, extended its growth momentum in July by recording a monthly increase of 1.9 percent to 3.77 million units last month, thanks to brisk demand for mainstream 32-inch TVs and 49-inch TVs from China’s white-box TV brands.
Samsung Display Co, ranked fourth, also increased TV panel shipments by 8.1 percent month-on-month to 3.54 million as its production adjustments to lift capacity utilization bore fruit, Hu said.
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