The global market for large-sized LCD panels appears to be shrugging off economic concerns this year, with rising demand for monitor, notebook-PC and television panels expected to generate a 17.7% increase in unit shipments in 2008, iSuppli Corp forecasts.
"The market for large-sized LCD panels struggled with an oversupply situation starting in November and into the first quarter of 2008," said Sweta Dash, director, LCD, for iSuppli. "However, concern over expected tight supplies in the second and third quarters due to summer Olympic Games related demand and slower capacity expansion plans is prompting buyers of large-sized LCD panels to pull in their orders earlier and to maintain high inventory levels -- a marked contrast from late 2007."
Many were concerned about the large-sized LCD panel market in 2008, mostly due to the slowdown in the US and other worldwide economies. However, shipments of large-sized LCD panels in the first quarter of 2008 declined by only 2.8% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. Generally, the first quarter is seasonally slow, but this year, even after negative growth in January and February, first-quarter shipments recovered somewhat due to strong growth in March.
Most panel buyers are expecting the LCD market to be in tight supply in the second and third quarters due to the Olympics and slower capacity expansions in the first half of 2008. So, although the end-system market remains slow due to the general deceleration in the US and the worldwide economy, the panel market is growing at a faster rate. Notably, first-quarter panel shipments fell 5.3% compared to the fourth quarter.
While the supply glut did continue in the first quarter, the strong demand for monitor, television and notebook PC panels has begun boosting the large-sized LCD market, a phenomenon expected to continue through the third quarter.
Panel suppliers are expected to spend about US$17 billion in 2008 alone to increase their capacity at higher-generation fabs. Strong growth in all three major application markets -- TVs, notebooks and monitors -- will propel large-sized LCD revenue into the future.
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