The prices of some TV panels are to pick up this month, as vendors build up inventory ahead of the annual Double 11 Singles’ Day shopping event in China, reversing a downtrend over the past five quarters, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report yesterday.
The price rebound is primarily driven by a reduction in panel supply rather than by an improvement in demand, after flat-panel makers reduced factory utilization amid an industry slump, TrendForce said.
The prices of TV panels smaller than 72 inches (183cm) are to stabilize this month as prices have fallen to near the manufacturing costs, leaving little room for further decline, while panel makers are keeping a tight rein on factory utilization to control supply, the Taipei-based market researcher said.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
As AUO Corp (友達) reduced its factory utilization to 70 percent in the second quarter and Innolux Corp (群創) expected its factory utilization to go down to as low as 50 percent last quarter, prices for 32-inch TV panels have climbed US$1 per unit, TrendForce said.
The prices of other sizes of TV panels are to see hikes between US$3 and US$5 per unit, it said.
In addition, the prices of panels used in monitors are also showing signs of stabilizing, with the prices of 21.5-inch monitor panels and those smaller than 21.5 inches likely to be flat this month, TrendForce said.
The mainstream 23.8-inch and 27-inch panels are to see smaller declines of US$1.5 per unit, it said.
However, demand for panels used in notebook computers continues to stagnate due to excessive inventory, with the prices of higher-resolution 14-inch and 15.6-inch panels likely to fall by between US$1 and US$1.2 per unit, representing a monthly decline of 2.4 percent, compared with a 1.8 percent fall last month, it said.
Meanwhile, prices of 27-inch LED monitor panels and 14-inch LED panels for notebook computers edged lower by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent to US$63.7 and US$23.6 per unit respectively, compared with the prices in the second half of last month, TrendForce said.
DEJA VU: Echoing the probe into real-estate giant Evergrande Group, the bank is under Beijing police scrutiny after last week, telling investors it is ‘severely insolvent’ Chinese authorities said they recently opened criminal investigations into Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Co’s (中植企業) money management business, days after the embattled shadow banking giant revealed a shortfall of US$36.4 billion in its balance sheet. Police in Beijing said in a statement on WeChat that they took “criminal mandatory measures” against multiple suspects, identifying one by their last name, Xie (解). They urged investors to report cases or provide leads to the authorities, including filing complaints online. Xie Zhikun (解直錕), the group’s founder, died in 2021, but several of his relatives are executives at the company. The statement did not elaborate on what
Yageo Corp (國巨), the world’s third-largest multilayer ceramic capacitor supplier, said that it had acquired France-based Schneider Electric’s sensor business in a deal worth about 723 million euros (US$788.26 million). The acquisition of Telemecanique Sensors early this month matched Yageo’s shift in strategy to offer premium products, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Yageo expects the deal to broaden its product portfolio and raise its gross margin substantially next year, given that Telemecanique Sensors focuses on making higher-margin chips for industrial devices, the company told investors during an online conference on Oct. 26. Yageo’s gross margin fell to 33.2 percent last
NEW TREAD: The Taiwanese shoe brand paired with TSMC to turn silicon waste into a circular economy good, following its success making shoes from coffee grounds Ccilu International Inc (馳綠國際), a Taiwan-based footwear brand, has become the first company in the world to turn silicon waste from contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) into eco-friendly shoes. Last year, the global footwear industry saw the first pair of pressure-relief slippers made from recycled silicon waste by Ccilu. The brand continued to unveil follow-up collections, including sports shoes and massage slippers made from the same materials. In an interview with CNA, Ccilu CEO Wilson Hsu (許佳鳴) recalled the company’s innovation of the first pair of slippers made from silicon waste after its silicon waste treatment partner, Semisils Applied Materials
CONSIDERATIONS: The NSTC instructed the park to assist laid-off workers and urge companies to use furlough programs to ease the effects of falling demand Firms in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), which houses major tech companies, reported laying off 496 employees last month amid weakened global demand, Hsinchu Science Park Bureau director-general Wayne Wang (王永壯) said yesterday. Wang told a news conference that 48 companies in the science park laid off employees last month, including one hard disk supplier which let go 241 employees as part of a plant closure due to falling demand. Other companies reported sporadic layoffs as they adjusted to weakening demand, he said. Wang made the remarks after local media reported the layoffs over the weekend. Although the global economy is struggling with high
RSS