AUO Will Break Monopoly of AMOLED Panel by Samsung

Taipei, Dec. 10, 2012 (CENS)--Thanks to the solid support of HTC and Sony, AU Optronics (AUO), Taiwan's leading flat panel display (FPD) maker, announced that yield rate of its AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) panel has exceeded 50%, paving the way for its mass shipment in the first quarter of 2013. With its AMOLED capacity having been booked by clients fully, AUO will break the monopoly of the global AMNOLED panel market by Samsung.

Samsung is the sole supplier capable of mass shipment of AMOLED panels, which are now applied in its flagship models, such as Galaxy S3 and Note 2. After its mass shipment in the first quarter of 2013, AUO will become the second AMOLED supplier on the global market, one step ahead of other Korean and Japanese rivals, such as LGD. Another major Taiwanese FPD maker Chimei-Innolux is scheduled to ship AMOLED panel in the first half of 2013.

Thanks to steady price upturn for FPD, market players expected that Taiwanese FPD firms will score conspicuous improvement in profits performance in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Industry insiders revealed that AUO has boosted the yield rate for its 3.5-generation AMOLED panel plant in Linkou, New Taipei City, to over 50% recently, thanks to improvement of its production equipment. The yield rate compares with 70% yield rate of Samsung's AMOLED panel plant.

The first AMOLED panels of AUO will measure 4.3” in size and will be applied in smart phones. HTC has booked the entirety of AUO's 3.5-generation plant in Linkou and Sony has also asked AUO for supplying the panel.

Hsieh Chin-yih, vice president of NPD Display Search, a market research body, pointed out that AMOLED panels boast the highest added value among FPD panels. AMOLED panels for smart phones fetch price of US$7,926 (NT$230,000) per square meter, the highest among FPD panels, compared with US$614 (NT$18,000) for LCD TV panel, the lowest.