ViewSonic International Corp, a US-based computer monitor maker, views flat-screen televisions as a growth business and unveiled its first batch of flat-screen TVs in Taipei yesterday.
ViewSonic's move made it the latest company, after personal computer giant Hewlett-Packard Co said last month it would join rivals Dell Inc and Gateway Inc, in the flat-panel television market.
ViewSonic already grabbed the No.1 and No.3 position in Taiwan's computer display and projector markets. But "we hope the new flat-panel business will contribute 30 percent of the company's total sales generated in Taiwan's market next year," said Middle Lin (
To achieve that goal, ViewSonic will have to sell about 1,000 to 1,500 units of flat-screen TVs a month including liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma display panel (PDP) TVs, he added.
The annual sales will help ViewSonic grab about 12 to 15 percent of the local market share and become one of the largest flat-panel TV brands -- based on the assumption that some 80,000 flat-panel TVs will be sold next year, Lin said.
"We believe the demand for flat-screen TVs will move into a high-growth stage in the second half of next year, though the sales remain flat this year as consumers are trying to sort out their needs," said Lin.
In terms of revenue, the 30-percent sales target will represent a US$108 million contribution from Taiwan, which will make up 30 percent of the company's total Asia-Pacific region revenue of US$370 million, according to Alan Chang (
ViewSonic expected the Asia-Pacific region's revenue to leap by about 44 percent to US$360 million this year from US$250 million this year in anticipation of consumers' aggressive purchases of flat-screen TVs, Chang said.
A market researcher said the market for LCDs, which are brighter than flat-panel plasma screens and thinner than cathode-ray tubes, will increase to US$92.5 billion by 2007 from US$68.4 billion this year, according to a DisplaySearch report released on Tuesday.
This emerging business has prompted major monitor makers to engage in flat-panel display manufacuturing, an analyst said.
"You can see ViewSonic's local rivals, such as BenQ Corp (明基電通) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), have already rolled out LCD-TVs," said Charles Chou (周士雄), an analyst with the Market Intelligence Center.
But to sustain momentum, the government needs to speed up the development of digital broadcast television services, and the retail prices of flat-screen TVs must go lower, Chou said.
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