Worldwide Large-sized LCD Panel Shipments to Slide a Bit This Year: IDC Taiwan

Alongside the stagnant demand of information technology (IT) and consumer-electronic products, global shipments of large-sized (larger than 10-inch) is forecast to decline by 0.8 percent in 2015 to about 851 million units, according to IDC Taiwan.

In the first quarter of 2015, worldwide shipments of large-sized LCD panels reached some 202 million units, up 2.1 percent from the same period of last year, or year-on-year (YoY), and a 14.1 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) drop. IDC Taiwan forecasts the second-quarter shipments to see both YoY and QoQ positive growths.

Kevin Chen, market analyst of worldwide assembly research at IDC Taiwan, pointed out that demand for LCD panels from most downstream applications, including notebook PCs, monitors, tablet PCs etc., are expected to drop in 2015 from the previous year. Though the global TV market is expected to continue seeing a replacement wave that began in 2014, he added, the strengthening  U.S. dollar will lead to higher end prices to hamper consumer purchase willingness. He forecasts that global TV shipments to grow 3.1 percent this year, but to be too low to drive up the overall large-sized LCD panel shipments.

According to the latest IDC Worldwide Large Sized LCD Panel Qview, Q12015, IDC Taiwan said, the world's top-5 suppliers of large-sized panels were LG Display, Samsung Display (SDC) of South Korea, Innolux Corp., AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) of Taiwan, and BOE of China. In terms of applications, LG Display and Innolux were the top-2 in notebook PC, monitor and TV panel segments; while in tablet PC application, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd. (CPT) of Taiwan, SDC and BOE were leading players.

IDC Taiwan said that in 2015, BOE has gradually started up production capacity at a new 8.5th-geeneration (8.5G) panel factory in China, and the company is expected to digest the newly added capacity through price-cutting strategies. As result, the local branch said, BOE's increasing production will further intensify price competition among global panel suppliers.

Top-5 Vendors, Worldwide Large-Sized LCD Panel Shipment, Q1, 2015 (in million units)
Vendor	1Q15 Shipments	1Q15 Shipment Share	1Q15 Shipments	1Q15 Shipment Share	1Q15/1Q14 Growth
1. LG Display	44.2	21.9%	48.1	24.3%	-8.1%
2. SDC	35.0	17.3%	37.9	19.1%	-7.7%
3. Innolux	34.3	17.0%	32.8	16.6%	4.6%
4. AUO	27.7	13.7%	28.8	14.5%	-3.8%
5. BOE	24.9	12.3%	20.6	10.4%	20.9%
Others	36.0	17.8%	29.8	15.1%	20.8%
Total	202.1	100%	198.0	100%	2.1%
Source: IDC Worldwide Large Sized LCD Panel Qview, May 25, 2015

Annabelle Hsu, senior research manager of worldwide assembly research at IDC Taiwan, concluded that the stagnant downstream demand and the increasing production capacity of panel makers are expected to lead to oversupply in all panel categories, except mainstream-sized LCD TV panels. So, she added, panel prices are expected to continue dropping this year.