Hon Hai, Qisda Land Big Orders for LCD TVs From Sony

Taipei, April 1, 2008 (CENS)--The Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. and Qisda Corporation, both high-caliber contract suppliers on an EMS (electronics manufacturing service) basis, have landed big orders for LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs from Sony for the first time, according to company sources.

Hon Hai and Qisda have succeeded in joining Sony's supply chain for LCD TVs this year, with Hon Hai to ship the brand's mainstream 32-inch and 37-inch models and Qisda to deliver middle-end models. This year, Sony is expected to place orders for a total of up to 4 million LCD TVs with its existing three Taiwanese contract suppliers, namely Hon Hai, Qisda and Wistron Corp., which turn out about 2-3 million units of low-price models for the brand in the year.

Industry insiders noted that Hon Hai starts contract production of LCD TVs this year and has surprisingly won Sony's orders for about 1 million units for sale in the North American market. On other hand, unwilling to produce low-price models, Qisda has finally landed Sony's orders for hundreds of thousand units of middle-end models.

Besides, Sony plans to ship between 18 million and 20 million LCD TVs this year and outsource 30% of required display panels from AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) and 10% each from Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO) and Sharp Corp. In other words, the brand will procure 5.4-6 million and 1.8-2 million display panels, including models with sizing from 32 inches to 46 inches, from AUO and CMO, respectively, in the year.

Sony president Ryoji Chubachi is scheduled to visit Taiwan and attend Sony Fair 2008 on April 3. He is reportedly to officially release orders for LCD TVs and display panels to Taiwanese companies during the fair.

Sony shipped around 9 million LCD TVs worldwide last year and expects to challenge a whopping growth of 100% in the shipment to between 18 million and 20 million units for this year, showing its ambition to compete with the world's largest LCD TV brand Samsung. This also makes the brand resolve to increase orders with Taiwanese suppliers in the year.