Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s top LCD panel maker, yesterday reported an increase in revenue for last month of 1.6 percent after the company said factory utilization would improve gradually.
The improvement reflected a weaker-than-expected recovery in price and in demand for back-to-school inventory. In particular, a price uptick for panels used in TVs and notebook computers stalled after prices bounced back by between 1 percent and 3 percent in the second half of May, market researcher DisplaySearch said.
Revenue rose to NT$41.03 billion (US$1.42 billion) last month, from NT$40.38 billion in May, the company said in a statement. Shipments of computer and TV panels expanded 1.6 percent month-on-month to 1.3 million units.
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) said on Thursday that revenue fell 6.9 percent to NT$31.27 billion last month after it shipped 11.9 percent fewer PC and TV panels, 9.2 million units, down from 10.45 million units a month ago.
In the second quarter, AUO’s revenue increased by 5.2 percent to NT$98.05 billion. The company missed its target of between 5 percent and 9 percent growth in PC and TV panel shipments in the second quarter, after reporting anemic 4.3 percent quarter-on-quarter growth to 29.63 million units.
Chimei’s revenue dropped 2.1 percent to NT$121.7 billion last quarter, compared with NT$124.33 billion in the first quarter. Shipments of PC and TV panels grew at a pace of 10 percent last quarter to 35.51 million units from 32.27 million units the previous quarter
Yesterday, local LCD panel makers Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (CPT, 中華映管) and Hannstar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) said revenue contracted 10.3 percent and 6.05 percent respectively last month, to NT$4.82 billion and NT$3.7 billion as a result of falling shipments.
CPT and Hannstar said shipments of PC and TV panels declined 7.9 percent and 27.4 percent month-on-month to 1.37 million units and 339,000 units respectively.
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