E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), the world’s largest e-paper display supplier, yesterday said business is recovering gradually from an inventory correction cycle thanks to rapid and smooth technology upgrades in using new color e-paper displays on electronic readers and electronic shelf labels (ESLs).
The company said most customers are expected to level off extra older-generation color e-paper displays used in ESLs this quarter, resulting in a pickup in the third quarter. What is more encouraging is that a large retailer in North America has started replacing paper labels with ESLs, joining its European and Chinese peers.
The company expects new four color e-paper displays used in ESLs would account for about 90 percent, from 80 percent, of total ESL shipments.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
“We believe the first quarter is the lowest point. Our revenue in the second quarter will be better than the first quarter,” E Ink chairman Johnson Lee (李政昊) told media on the sideline of the Touch Taiwan display show in Taipei yesterday.
The main growth drivers this year would be electronic readers and electronic notebooks due to the display upgrade, Lee said.
“Customers said sales of their electronic readers with color displays are much better than they had expected,” Lee said, adding that the company’s equipment is fully utilized.
The company believes large e-paper displays would be the next growth driver, Lee said. The 32-inch cooler e-paper displays demonstrated equally good color performance compared with paper prints and should be a good replacement for paper posters, he said.
E Ink said that its new larger e-paper displays for public displays are to enter volume production early next year, after a new factory in Hsinchu starts operations at the end of this year.
Flat-panel makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) also expect a gradual recovery starting in the second half of this year, backed by rising demand for panels used in large TVs and new artificial intelligence (AI) PCs.
AUO said demand for TV panels is picking up, indicating that the display industry has hit its bottom, after suffering the most in 2022 and last year.
The company witnessed a pickup in demand for 65-inch TV panels ahead of the Paris Olympics and UEFA Euro 2024, which are to take place in second and third quarters, AUO said.
“The display industry has weathered through the worst period in 2022 and 2023. The industry has returned to the healthy track,” AUO chairman Paul Peng (彭双浪) said. “We expect the introduction of AI PCs in the second half of this year to bring strong demand.”
The price of 65-inch TV panels are expected to rise at the fastest rate of 2.9 percent sequentially to about US$176 per unit this month, compared with price increases between 1.6 and 2.8 percent estimated for for 55-inch, 43-inch and 22-inch TV panels, price information provided by market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) showed.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
REGIONAL COMPETITION: Over the past few years the Philippines has lost ground to neighbors such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, a Philippine official said The Philippines is trying to enlist Taiwanese chip giants to expand in semiconductors, a bid to catch up with its neighbors who are emerging as significant suppliers in the industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) are among companies the Philippines is reaching out to as it seeks equipment and expertise to build out chip fabrication operations, said Dan Lachica, head of the Southeast Asian country’s main electronics industry group, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc (SEIPI). The association is working with Philippine officials in Taiwan to talk with potential
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98