14 DAY TRIAL // With all the financial troubles going on in Europe, and how even hard drive makers end up reducing their shipment forecasts, one would think that the short-term future of the IT industry wasn't looking so bright. Apparently, this isn't the case, at least not on all segment, because, as opposed to how Q2 HDD shipments are expected to drop on-quarter, large-area TFT LCDs are selling by the millions. Basically, May sales surpassed the previous monthly high records.
Compared to April, large-area TFT LCD panel shipments increased by 9%, reaching 58.8 million units. This corresponds to revenues of 7.5 billion, the equivalent of a 7% month-on-month rise. Not only that, but year-on-year revenues and shipments also jumped, by 60% and 36%, respectively. Notebook and slate/mini-note panels lead with a 16% on-month improvement, leading to 4.8 million in May.
“The May results indicate that although the TFT LCD industry is going through a panel price and inventory correction period this quarter, panel shipment momentum is not slowing down and has bounced back to reach record monthly highs after a monthly decline in April,” said David Hsieh, Vice President of DisplaySearch.
On a unit basis, LG Display led the charge with 24.1% market share, followed closely by Samsung, Chimei Innolux and AUO, with 22.4%, 17.9% and 17.4%, respectively. On the revenue front though, Samsung bested LG with 26.3% market share, compared to 24.2%. “It is to be expected that the panel price will fall gradually in Q2’10 due to the slowdown in demand,” Hsieh went on to say. “However, we do not think the price decline will be drastic, as shipments continue to grow. On the other hand, tightness in the LCD module and backlight components supply chain and confidence about strong demand in the next quarter have encouraged panel makers to maintain their present high capacity utilization rates and the downstream buyers to accumulate more preparatory inventories. This explains why we are seeing panel prices fall and shipments increase, concurrently. Furthermore, panel makers are expecting to increase shipments again in June despite falling prices.”