Expecting surging demand for liquid crystal display (LCD) screens this year, Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics NV is hoping to boost sales of its LCD monitors, which are expected to grow 45 percent globally, a company official said yesterday.
"We hope to increase shipments of our LCD monitors from 4 million units last year to 6 million or even 7 million units in 2004 globally, if the panel's supply is stable," Cor Saris, senior vice president and CEO of Philips' multimedia displays division, told an annual press gathering yesterday.
The shortage of liquid-crystal panels used to make computer monitors, laptop screens and flat-screen televisions has tightened since the third quarter, resulting in limited production by flat-screen manufacturers.
To the manufacturers' disappointment, the situation is expected to persist until the fourth quarter of this year.
According to a report issued yesterday by the Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所), panel supplies will still fail to meet the demand this year until the fourth quarter.
In addition, components for making LCD monitors such as color filters and glass substrate will be tight throughout the year, the report said.
Philips, though it has a headquarters for multimedia display products in Taiwan and cooperates with several LCD panel and IC suppliers, will also bear the brunt of the shortage.
"I think prices for small-sized LCD monitors, meaning 15 inches and below, will still peg to the current range due to the tight supply," Saris said.
"Prices of large-sized ones, namely 19 inches and above, however, will start to decline by 10 to 15 percent this year due to the comparatively low demand," Saris said.
Saris' estimate is similar to the institute's, which pointed out that the price of a 19-inch LCD monitor will drop by up to 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.
The LCD monitor penetration ratio will rise from 43 percent last year to 59 percent this year, with 17-inch units taking the lead, according to the institute.
Besides regular LCD monitors that are specifically for personal computers, Philips has been putting effort into developing multimedia displays that can be used to watch TV, play games or conduct videoconferencing.
Furthermore, over the next five years, slim, flat and large will be the key features in LCD product development, he added.
David Hsieh (
"But this is not to say that pricing is the key ? more consumers now are willing to pay more for high-end IT products," Hsieh said.
Philips' monitor business has achieved No. 4 worldwide last year with a revenue of 2 billion euros. In Asia, the company ranks third with a 10 percent market share in LCD monitors, Saris said.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS