Taiwan's FPD Production Value Dips 15.5% in 2011: IEK-ITIS

Taipei, Feb. 22, 2012 (CENS)--Production value of Taiwan's flat panel display (FPD) industry (including FPD panels and parts/components) dropped 15.5% from the previous year to about NT$1.4 trillion (US$46.77 billion) in 2011, from the peak of NT$1.66 trillion (US$55.33 billion) in 2010, according to the Industrial Economics & Knowledge Center (IEK)-ITIS (Industry & Technology Intelligence Services) in Taiwan, which forecasts that the FPD industry till grow by about 8.6% to about NT$1.5 trillion (US$50 billion) in 2012.

FPDs, a category including large (larger than 10.0-inch) and small/medium-sized thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, organic light-emit diode (OLED) panels, TN/STN (super twisted nematic) panels and others, made up NT$951.9 billion (US$31.7 billion) of total production value; while FPD parts and components contributed NT$450.7 billion (US$15 billion).

In the fourth quarter, Taiwan's FPD industry turned out NT$336.7 billion (US$11.2 billion), down 4.8% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and down 12.2% year-on-year (YoY); in which FPDs made up NT$229.3 billion (US$7.64 billion) of total production value, a 5.4% QoQ decline and a 12.2% YoY decrease; with FPD parts and components (color filters, polarizers, glass substrates and backlight units) contributing NT$107.3 billion (US$3.58 billion), a 3.5% QoQ drop and a 12.4% YoY decline.

Large TFT-LCDs contributed NT$177.9 billion (US$5.93 billion) to overall production value (down 7.0% QoQ and 17.0% YoY), while small- and medium-sized TFT-LCDs contributed NT$46.1 billion (US$1.5 billion), up 1.5% QoQ and up 15.7% YoY; TN/super twisted nematic (STN)-LCDs NT$3.65 billion (US$121.7 million), down 6.9% QoQ and down 26.4% YoY; and organic light-emit diode (OLED) NT$1.59 billion (US$53 million), down 7.1% QoQ and 16.9% YoY.

IEK-ITIS said that demand for large-sized FPDs was weak in the fourth quarter, a traditional peak season. Anemic consumer purchase willingness drove vendors to reduce shipments, and panel manufacturers to lower equipment utilization rates. In addition, panel makers have in turn to shifted their 5th- and 6th-generation (6G) panel plants to produce small- and medium-sized panels, for meeting the strong demand from tablet PC and smartphone applications.