Large-sized TFT-LCD Panel Prices to Fall in First Two Months: DisplaySearch, WitsView

Taipei, Jan. 9, 2006 (CENS)--The prices of large-sized thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels are expected to fall in January, a result of the effects of the off-season for personal computer (PC) products.

Both DisplaySearch, a flat panel display (FPD) market research and consulting firm, and WitsView Technology Corp. (WitsView), an LCD market research firm, have announced their January large-sized panel quotes. The prices of all LCD TV, LCD monitor, and notebook PC panels are projected to decline in January, according to the two market-research firms, and are expected to continue sliding in February.

The stock prices of Taiwan' s top-five large-sized TFT-LCD panel makers, including (in sequence) AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO), Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd. (CPT), Quanta Display Inc. and HannStar Display Corp., fell on the news of the lower panel quotes.

In January, according to DisplaySearch's forecast, the unit prices of mainstream 32- and 37-inch TV panels will drop by an average of NT$10, while the price of 20- and 26/27-inch products will fall by about US$5.

DisplaySearch forecasted that the quote for 15-inch monitor panels would also slide a little bit this month, while that for 17- and 19-inch panels would remain stable, and that for widescreen 19-inch monitors and TV panels would fall by about US$5.

Notebook PC-panel quotes are expected to fall by US$2 to US$3 for both the mainstream widescreen 15.4-/14-inch panels and the traditional 14-/15-inch panels, DisplaySearch predicted.

DisplaySearch also forecasted that the prices of all monitor, TV and notebook panels are expected to continue falling by US$3 to US$5 each, meaning that the large-sized panel prices would face minor price declines in the first quarter.

WitsView CEO Henry Wang mainly attributed the falling panel prices in January to the off-season effects of the information technology (IT) hardware market. Wang added that the falling TV-panel prices resulted from price-cutting competitions between relatively small panel makers, whose new-generation production facilities have recently started mass production.

Wang stressed that prices for 17-inch monitor panels would fall by about US$6 to US$8 each in January, which would affect panel makers' margins. Downstream monitor makers are expected to bargain even further for lower-price panels, the CEO added. That trend is expected to exacerbate the impacts on the profitability of panel makers with higher production ratios of monitor panels.

There is more room for TV-panel prices to fall, Wang said, as the TV-panel prices are higher and makers have been continuously upgrading their non-defect rates in production. Currently, he said, the quote for a 32-inch TV panel is about US$560.