Innolux Corp (群創光電), the nation’s biggest LCD panel maker, yesterday posted a 2 percent drop in revenue for last month, as shipments of PC and TV panels declined amid stagnant TV panel demand from China.
Revenue fell to NT$32.39 billion (U$1.1 billion) last month from August’s NT$33.04 billion, after shipments of PC and TV flat panels shrank 2.7 percent to 11.15 million units last month from 11.46 million units the month before.
During the quarter ending last month, revenue contracted 12.8 percent sequentially to NT$97.22 billion from NT$111.52 billion in the second quarter. Total shipments of PC and TV panels fell 9 percent to 34.35 million units last quarter from 37.75 million units from the previous quarter.
The quarterly decline surpassed Innolux’s expectation of a low-single-digit quarterly contraction and reversed the seasonal third quarter growth.
Innolux president Wang Jyh-chau (王志超) told investors in August that demand would be below seasonal expectations after the Chinese government canceled a program of subsidies for energy-efficient TV purchases. That has driven up inventory for TV makers, he said.
Because of the cancelation, TV sales in China slid 2 percent annually in August, market researcher NPD DisplaySearch said in a report released on Monday. Panel inventory for Chinese TV makers rose from eight weeks to 10 weeks, the research house said.
Demand continued to weaken as TV makers took to the sidelines in expectation of a further price decline in flat panels on excessive inventory, NPD DisplaySearch analyst Bing Chang (張兵) said in the report.
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, yesterday said its revenue fell 0.7 percent to NT$36.9 billion last month from NT$37.16 billion the previous month.
Revenue in the last quarter declined 4.7 percent to NT$107.08 billion, compared with NT$112.34 billion in the second quarter.
Shipments of PC and TV panels dropped 3.9 percent to 29.33 million units last quarter, from the second quarter’s 30.5 million units.
AUO missed its target of keeping shipment numbers unchanged last quarter.
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