[FPD International] 'Non-LCD FPD Markets Needed for Continued Growth,' Samsung Says

Oct 30, 2007 14:48 Motoaki Itou, Nikkei Electronics

"The market of FPDs is still growing," said Jun H Souk, executive vice president, Display R&D Center, LCD Business, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd of Korea, in the keynote speech of FPD International 2007.

"However, to maintain double-digit growth rate, it is necessary to grow the markets of FPDs other than LCD panels and meet the needs for various displays, in addition to expanding the application areas of LCD panels," he said.

In the market of the display panels for TVs, many types of panels are competing with each other. And LCD panels are the most competitive at this moment.

In spite of this situation, the executive of the R&D division of Samsung Electronics, one of the leading manufacturers of LCD panels, expressed such a view because the company is alarmed by weakened growth of LCD panels, especially in terms of monetary amount.

In the past, the market of LCD panels was guaranteed to grow at double-digits. Now, a double-digit growth can be expected for TVs, but only a one-digit growth can be expected for PCs.

"There are some application fields that have a potential to grow rapidly like the field of information displays," Souk said. "However, to put them on a steady growth path, there are many elements of uncertainty such as new business models in the advertising market."

Therefore, to maintain high growth rates, it is necessary to grow the markets of new-type displays that open new application fields, such as electronic papers, without LCD panels.

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