The penetration rate of LED backlights in LCD TVs is expected to grow to 40 percent in 2013 from 3 percent this year, with TV makers including market leader Samsung Electronics Co planning to launch more LED TVs next year, market researcher DisplaySearch said.
In 2014, the penetration of LED backlights in LCD TV panels could exceed 50 percent, surpassing the use of cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL), the Austin, Texas-based research house said in a report last month.
“Backlight units for LCD TVs are expected to be the next growth opportunity for the LED industry,” DisplaySearch said in the report, adding that “leading brands such as Samsung, LG, Sharp and Philips all expected to mass produce LED backlight LCD TVs in 2010.”
PHOTO: AP
Shipments of LED backlights used in LCD TV panels could quadruple to 15.1 million units next year, from 3.6 million units this year, pushing use of the sleeker and power-saving LED TV panels up to 10 percent the same year, the research house forecast.
Samsung said it sold 500,000 LED TVs in the three months following their launch in March, helped by strong demand in the US and Europe.
The fast uptake of LED backlights in PCs and TVs will benefit local LED makers such as Taiwan’s top LED chipmaker, Epistar Corp (晶電), a report from Taipei-based Capital Securities (群益證券) said.
Demand for LED chips may grow at least threefold this year to 7.9 billion units from 1.73 billion units, Capital Securities said in the report. Next year, LED chip demand may expand further to 17.7 billion units, it said.
Epistar has said faster-than-expected uptake of LED TVs and netbooks outfitted with LED panels caused a supply glut since March and it expected strong demand to help increase revenues by a double-digit percentage this quarter from last quarter.
The nation’s major LED chipmakers, Epistar and Formosa Epitaxy Inc (璨圓), may see their revenues grow more than 28 percent next year to NT$13.97 billion (US$426 million) and NT$2.21 billion respectively, from NT$10.88 billion and NT$1.72 billion this year, Capital Securities said.
DisplaySearch said shipments of LED backlights for computers and TVs could hit 434.8 million units in 2013, compared with 84.9 million this year, making LED backlights the most common light source, accounting for 54 percent of all LCD computer and TV panels.
Shares of Epistar fell 1.86 percent to NT$89.6 on Friday, while Formosa Epitaxy closed unchanged at NT$36.25.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
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