There is a good chance for Taiwanese LCD panel makers to return to the black next quarter, because recovering demand for TV panels will help end prolonged oversupply and trigger a round of price rebounds, market researcher NPD DisplaySearch forecast yesterday.
Supply has also decreased as LCD panel makers shift production to high-resolution OLED screens for smartphones and TVs, which has limited output of TV panels because of a relatively lower yield rate, NPD DisplaySearch vice president David Hsieh (謝勤益) told reporters.
“We are optimistic about the second and the third quarters ... We are seeing supply of TV panels becoming tight recently,” Hsieh said. “A lot of TV brands started placing orders to build inventory for the second half [shopping season] ahead of schedule, before panel prices go even higher.”
Some companies have already started negotiating with panel -suppliers for a deal in preparation for “Black Friday” sales, rather than booking in June or July, he said.
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving in the US, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
On top of that, TV sales in China during the Labor Day holidays beginning on May 1 are expected to grow at a resilient 10 percent annual rate this year, Hsieh forecast.
Because the oversupply problem is improving, panel prices are expected to rise at a 2 percent or 3 percent monthly pace from this month through the third quarter, during which demand is expected to exceed supply more severely than this current quarter, he said.
The price increase would bring local panel companies’ net profit margin back into positive territory, or less than 5 percent, for the first time in eight quarters, he added.
DisplaySearch said supply of certain screens, including mainstream 32-inch panels, 40-inch, 42-inch and 46-inch panels, had become tight. Supply constraint was even marked for newly developed 39-inch TV screens, because many TV brands are following Haier Group (海爾) in launching 39-inch TV sets after Haier’s TV sets eroded sales of 37-inch TVs in North America, the researcher added.
Separately, Hsieh said Apple Inc would likely use new touch panels for its new iPhone, which could be unveiled in the fall, to reduce the thickness and weight of the new smartphone.
The adoption of in-cell touch panels could, to some extent, erode the businesses of Apple’s local touch-panel suppliers, including TPK Holding Co Ltd (宸鴻) and Wintek Corp (勝華), while boosting Japanese panel suppliers, such as Sony Corp, Sharp Corp and Toshiba Corp, Hsieh said.
Japanese companies led -rivals in Taiwan and South Korea in developing new touch panels by fabricating touch sensors with thin-film-transistor arrays, rather than adding sensors to the top of an LCD glass substrate, he said.
TPK and Wintek currently supply Apple with thicker touch panels made with the conventional on-cell technology for iPhones and iPads.
Meanwhile, Chinese LCD panel makers are expected to seize a 20 percent share of the global LCD panel market in 2014, up from this year’s 10 percent, while Taiwanese companies would see their share fall to 28 percent from 32 percent this year, the researcher’s tallies showed.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI