Taiwanese optoelectronics companies' revenues are expected to expand at a compounded annual growth rate of 17 percent in the next few years, fueled by the rising demand for bigger-screen televisions and new applications such as low-cost laptops, a local market researcher said yesterday.
That would outpace the forecast compounded annual growth rate of 14 percent for companies around the globe during the same period, Taipei-based Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA, 光電協會) said.
In 2010, revenues of local optoelectronics companies, including AU Optronics Corp (
The flat-panel industry will account for the biggest chunk, or more than 70 percent, of overall revenues, PIDA said. Local flat-panel sales are forecast to hit NT$2.1 trillion in 2010, compared with NT$1.16 trillion last year.
The domestic flat-panel display industry posted an impressive 32 percent increase in revenue last year, reversing the single-digit growth in the past few years, the research house said, adding that the growth momentum was expected to continue this year.
"This year, growth will be boosted by the rising demand for bigger screens for liquid-crystal display (LCD) TVs and robust [replacement] demand for notebook computers," PIDA analyst Han Chung (
The mainstream size for TVs is expected to increase to 40 inches or 42 inches this year, 50 inches next year and ultimately 65 inches in 2010, Chung said.
"New applications, including digital photo frames, [Apple's] iPhone and its followers, which came out last year, as well as the much-awaited low-cost notebook computers are driving demand for LCD panels," Chung said.
Aside from a strong flat-panel display industry, light-emitting diodes (LED) and solar industries are also emerging as two star industries in the optoelectronics sector, PIDA said.
After resolving problems with technology and pricing, LED will finally be used as a source of illumination this year, mainly for street lamps in China, PIDA said.
The Chinese government plans to spend US$600 million to replace fluorescent street lamps with power-efficient LED bulbs as part of its efforts to solve the power shortage, which would benefit local firms such as LED chipmaker Epistar Corp (
Revenues of local solar cell makers could more than triple to NT$180.74 billion in 2010, PIDA said.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such
RSS