AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, yesterday posted large quarterly losses as prices for TV panels fell at a faster-than-expected pace because customers were still digesting excessive inventories.
Net losses expanded to NT$11.34 billion (US$390.6 million) last quarter, compared with NT$7.85 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, the company said in a financial statement. AU Optronics also booked NT$1.5 billion for an anti-trust payment last quarter.
In the third quarter, AU Optronics earned NT$227 million. For the whole year, AU Optronics made NT$7.41 billion, reversing losses of NT$27.25 billion in 2009.
Prices for TV panels plunged 19 percent quarter-on-quarter to US$197 per unit in the last quarter, while prices for computer panels dropped 7 percent to US$53 per unit from the previous quarter, the Hsinchu-based company said.
“TV panel prices are expected to stabilize after inventories return to healthy levels” this quarter, executive vice president Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told investors.
He blamed weak European TV sales during the year-end shopping season and a slower-than-expected uptake of LED TVs behind excessive stockpiles.
“Prices are unlikely to drop endlessly,” Peng said.
The prices of LCD TV panels may be unchanged this quarter from last quarter as AU Optronics plans to ship more high-margin LED models during the traditionally slow season in the current quarter, the company said. Meanwhile, prices for computer panels are expected to rise slightly, it said.
Shipments of TV and PC panels are expected to be flat this quarter, compared with 28 million units shipped last quarter, it said.
Equipment usage is expected to improve to 85 percent this quarter, from higher than 80 percent, the company said.
AU Optronics said it plans to spend between NT$90 billion and NT$95 billion on new equipment. About 20 percent of that amount would be invested in its new solar business in support of the company’s future growth because growth for the overall LCD industry will slow to an annual growth rate of 20 percent over the next few years, the company said.
It also plans to ramp up its second 8.5-generation plant in Houli (后里), Greater Taichung, in April, its only new increase in capacity this year. AU Optronics plans to boost the plant’s capacity to 45,000 sheets per month by the end of this year.
Commenting on its first Chinese plant, AU Optronics said it still hoped the plant would be operational next year.
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