14 DAY TRIAL // Back at the start of the year, IT companies seemed to be a fair bit more optimistic about their chances to outdo themselves in terms of shipments than they were the previous year. LG, for one, intended to ship about 29 million flat panel TVs by the end of December, out of which 25 million were going to be based on the LCD (liquid crystal display) technology. The company also hopes to ship about six million LED-backlit models. Unfortunately, certain supply issues may end up stopping these plans from coming to fruition.
According to a recent report made by Digitimes, LG might not be able to go over 28 million sales. This is because TV panels are supposedly in short supply, as are other components used in such display solutions. During the first quarter of the ongoing year, LG shipped about six million LCD TVs, a number which put it on the second place among the world's largest LCD TV vendors. Out of those 6 million, only 5 percent used LED backlighting.
The main reason behind the small number of LED-backlit TVs is, according to the website's sources, the shortage of LED chips that has been in place for some time now. In the near future, supply of LED will, in fact, directly influence LG's LED TV shipments. In order to attain the goal it set for this year, the company will have to deliver about 2 million, on average, from the second to the fourth quarter. As it is, this will likely prove more problematic than the outfit might hope.
Of course, LG is aware of the difficulties and is already busy with strengthening its supply chains. Overall, it hopes to clearly surpass the performance of 2009, when it shipped 16 million LCD TVs. As for 2011, the display maker seeks to further boost its marketing prowess to 35-40 million units.