Global shipments of TFT-LCD panels used in PCs and TVs are expected to have grown last month after two consecutive monthly declines, indicating that the earthquake that disrupted some Taiwanese plants did not drastically cut output, market researcher Displaybank said in its latest monthly report.
In February, shipments from flat-panel makers around the world fell 12.4 percent to 45.88 million units, from 52.22 million units in January, because of fewer working days and waning demand during the Lunar New Year holiday, Displaybank said in the report dated Friday.
In terms of revenues, the contraction was smaller at about 10.2 percent to US$5.89 billion in February, the report showed.
Shipments last month are expected to have “increased month-on-month, but would not reach Jan. 2010 levels,” the report said.
A “strong earthquake that hit the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung on March 4 led Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) and HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) to cease operations for one to three days, but the impact to overall shipments will be minimal,” said Ricky Park, a senior analyst in the display research group at Displaybank.
The magnitude 6.4 quake probably caused a reduction of between 3 percent and 4 percent in shipments, Park said, without providing specific figures.
The forecast came ahead of the release of sales figures for TFT-LCD makers this week.
Chi Mei Optoelectronics was Taiwan’s No. 2 flat-panel maker before being acquired by local PC LCD monitor maker Innolux Display Corp (群創光電) to create the biggest LCD panel maker in Taiwan. HannStar primarily makes panels used in PCs and small consumer gadgets.
LCD monitor panel shipments declined 18.1 percent month-on-month in February to 15.07 million units, the researcher said.
In February, declines in shipments of LCD TV panels and notebook computer panels accelerated to 11.1 percent and 6.1 percent month-on-month to 14.21 million units and 15.97 million units respectively, the report said.
By region, the market share of South Korea-based makers slid to 46.9 percent in terms of global shipments from 47.3 percent in January. Taiwan-based makers edged lower to 42.6 percent in February from 42.8 percent in the previous month.
LG Display Co Ltd of South Korea secured its No. 1 ranking for five consecutive months with a 24.7 percent market share by shipments, followed by Samsung Electronics at 22.1 percent and Taiwan’s AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) at 17.8 percent.
In terms of market share by revenues, Samsung Electronics was ranked No. 1 with 24.6 percent, followed by LG Display at 24.3 percent.
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