In further evidence that the flat panel TV market is softening is the release of research by WitView that reveals that large-size LCD panel shipments slipped 4.9% in the last quarter to 105.3 million units this has led to a mere 3.4% on-year growth.
In further evidence that the flat panel TV market is softening is the release of research by WitView that reveals that large-size LCD panel shipments slipped 4.9% in the last quarter to 105.3 million units this has led to a mere 3.4% on-year growth.
In the IT segment and in the wake of sharp panel price falls in the third quarter, and strong inventory pull during the first half of 2008 manufacturers are now carrying overly high inventory levels for both brand vendors and system integrators and this could lead to massive price cuts.
The Asia based research Company claim that market demand was severely impacted by the global financial turmoil as both consumers and enterprises cut expenditure and due to the slowdown in demand, notebook panels shipments fell by 3.7% on quarter to 34.1 million units. Monitor panels fell 13.8% on quarter to 44.5 million units.
According to DigiTimes, some market share changes were seen during third quarter. The TV and monitor market share of the Korean players increased 2.3 percentage points to 45.8%, thanks to their respective own-brand support and depreciation end of 6G lines and below. For Taiwan suppliers, their share was instead down 2 percentage points to 46.1%. This was due to their more aggressive production cutbacks, and the sharp drop in monitor panel shipments, which accounted for the largest share in their product mix.
Samsung topped the list for all three applications, where it shipped a total of 24.63 million panels in the third quarter.
In the wake of the production cutbacks by the Taiwanese panel makers and inventory adjustments during the third quarter, the current panel inventory has returned to a healthier level. Yet, the persisting macroeconomic troubles continue to weigh on the end market demand. The uncertain demand and likelihood of panel prices falling further is rendering both the brand vendors and system makers to hold a cautious outlook toward the fourth quarter and the first half of 2009.
Meanwhile, based on the current market conditions, production cutbacks by panel makers will likely continue for another one to two quarters. Beginning from November, the traditional weak season effect should become more evident. For the fourth quarter, shipments are expected to drop 6-7% sequentially.
