Global contract liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitor makers, led by TPV Technology Ltd (冠捷), could see their first quarterly growth in shipments in three quarters, helped by inventory restocking demand and rush orders, Taipei-based research house WitsView said in a report released yesterday.
LCD monitor shipments could increase 10 percent to 34 million units in the second quarter compared with the first quarter of this year, but on annual basis that would represent a 10 percent decrease, said WitsView, the panel market research arm of DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技).
“With the inventory replenishment expected to continue until May, it will help underpin the quarterly shipments in the second quarter of 2009,” the report said.
Hong-Kong-listed TPV, Taiwan’s Innolux Display Corp (群創) and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co are the world’s top three LCD monitor makers on a contract basis.
WitsView expected constraint supply of key components, such as flat panels and scaler chips, to stabilize by the end of the second quarter, which may help boost shipments, the researcher said. Shortage of key components has capped shipments in the first quarter, the researcher said.
WitsView said branded LCD monitor suppliers could slash prices to stimulate demand to meet sales targets set for the first half of the year and to spur replacement demand following the launch of new models, further supporting its forecast for double-digit quarterly shipment growth.
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