Taiwan's TFT-LCD Shipments Dip YoY in Q3 for First Time

Taipei, Dec. 5, 2008 (CENS)--Taiwan shipped 49 million large-sized (over-10-inch) thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels in the third quarter, down 10.1% from previous quarter and a first-seen annual decline of 4.4%, according to statistics released by IDC Taiwan, the local subsidiary of the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries.

The revenue of local TFT-LCD industry in the third quarter declined by 24.2% from previous quarter and dropped 26.8% from the same period of last year to reach about only US$6.48 million, due mainly to the stiff panel-price plunge resulting from oversupply.

The third-quarter figures were the first declines in the traditional high season, IDC Taiwan pointed out, and only the shipments of the LCD TV panels saw a minor increase from previous quarter.

Annabelle Hsu, research manager of worldwide display group at IDC Taiwan, pointed out that the global economic crisis is heavily impacting on the global consumer confidence, which is expected not to recover in the near future.

Local panel suppliers' aggressive capacity expansion, especially that of the No. 2 local player Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO), has led to serious oversupply when the global demand suddenly has frozen.

For the fourth quarter, Hsu said nothing shows rebounding demand; while the upcoming first quarter of 2009 is a traditional low season for the panel industry. The research manager predicted that panel prices would further plunge to under makers' costs. The second quarter is also a off season for information technology (IT) products, Hsu added, so she estimated that impacts from this wave of global economic crisis would last at least one or two years.

There might be a turnaround in the third quarter of 2009, Hsu said, but it depends on the overall market demand. Panel prices, however, are expected to stabilize in the first half of 2009, because all makers would continue to reduce production in the fourth quarter of 2008.