Taiwanese Display Panel Makers Enjoy Influx of Orders From Japanese Customers

Taipei, Sept. 15, 2010 (CENS)--As lingering appreciation of the Japanese yen has forced Japanese makers to outsource front-end production of small and medium-sized display panels overseas, three Taiwanese contract manufacturers have seen influx of large orders from Japanese customers this year.

Among them, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. shipped over 371.4 million small and medium-sized display panels in August alone, sharply up 30.4% from July, as No. 1, while Chimei Innolux Corp. posted shipment of 354.5 million units, nearly double AU Optronics Corp.’s 181.5 million units in the same month.

Enjoying robust shipments, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Chimei Innolux have confirmed that their Japanese clients have actually farmed out front-end production to them due mainly to the skyrocketing yen, which has almost hit a 15-year high against the U.S. dollar.

In fact, to fill new orders from Japanese customers, Taiwanese makers have busily switched to small and medium-sized display panels from large-sized models since the beginning of the third quarter of this year, and hence boosted their shipments of such models so far.

While bringing about benefits to Taiwanese display panel makers recently, the continual appreciation of the Japanese yen has also pushed up the costs of key materials, like glass, industry insiders stressed.

On the other hand, although farming out front-end production of small and medium-sized display panels, Japanese makers still keep lines of profitable products, including OLED (organic light emitting diode) panels and LTPS (low temperature polysilicon) panels, operational in house.

Taiwanese Makers’Shipments of Small and Medium-sized Display Panels in August
Company	Shipment (millions of units)	Month-on-month Growth Rate
AU Optronics Corp.	181.5	4.9%
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd.	371.4	30.4%
Chimei Innolux Corp.	354.5	8.4%

Source: The companies