Flat-panel maker AUO Corp (友達) yesterday posted its smallest quarterly loss in about five quarters as customers restocked ahead of shopping seasons, and demand for TVs and notebook computers emerged from two years of corrections.
AUO’s net losses improved to NT$975 million (US$30.07 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with losses of NT$10.91 billion in the second quarter and NT$10.43 billion in the third quarter last year.
Gross margin rose to 7.6 percent last quarter from 3.1 percent the previous quarter and minus-14.6 percent in the same period last year.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
Shipments climbed 3 percent sequentially last quarter, driven by seasonal demand, the company said.
Average selling prices jumped 5 percent quarter-on-quarter to US$329 per square meter, the first uptick since the first quarter.
This quarter, shipments of computer and TV panels would dip about 15 percent sequentially as restocking demand among customers is approaching an end, AUO said.
The upward trend of average selling prices would extend into this quarter with a quarterly increase of 2 to 3 percent, the company said.
“The seasonal restocking demand is to phase out in the second half of the fourth quarter,” AUO chairman Paul Peng (彭?浪) told investors during a quarterly meeting yesterday. “Consumer demand for end devices is expected to remain weak for a period of time because of lingering macroeconomic pressure. Key interest rates in the US are still very high.”
The bright spot is that demand and supply dynamics in the flat-panel industry are moving in a positive direction, with channel inventory returning to healthy levels, while TV and PC brand vendors are taking a prudent approach to manage inventory, Peng said.
Most panel manufacturers have adjusted their equipment utilization to match demand, he said.
AUO said its factory utilization was 80 percent last quarter, but it planned to lower it this quarter as demand declines.
The company yesterday trimmed its capital spending plan for this year by about 14 percent to NT$30 billion, compared with an estimate of NT$35 billion three months ago.
AUO said it would only spend on next-generation display technology, not on expanding capacity.
With years of investment, its micro-LED technology would be commercialized by the end of this year, with shipments to start for use in smart watches, it said.
The next applications for the new display technology would be premium TVs and vehicles, AUO said.
To facilitate the production of micro-LED panels, AUO’s board of directors yesterday approved an investment of NT$700 million to build a 6-inch micro-LED chip-on-carrier production line in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭) with subsidiary PlayNitride Inc (錼創).
AUO yesterday provided additional details about its ambition to become a major supplier of intelligent cockpit operation systems by acquiring Germany’s Behr-Hella Thermocontrol GmbH.
AUO supplies flat panels used in vehicles, as well as modules integrated with touch and human-machine-interface (HMI) features.
It said it expects revenue from displays with HMI features to make up about 25 percent of its revenue from automotive displays in 2025, up from 10 percent this year, driven by the uptake of electric and autonomous vehicles.
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