Taipei, June 8, 2009—According to WitsView’s analysts, the rapid utilization rate increases by panel makers has cleared away the previously accumulated glass substrate inventory in recent months. The current glass substrate output is now immediately consumed by eager buyers. As the capacity increases from the furnaces can not keep up with the rising glass substrate [...]

Taipei, May 25, 2009—Following the notable inventory replenishments during 1Q09, it started to cool down a bit during Apr09. By also taking into account the continued monitor panel price increases, these developments should help further shed light on the extent of downstream vendors’ overbooking and the actual market demand. Amid a possible slowdown in the [...]

Taipei, April 7, 2009—In the start of 2009, large-sized panel shipments finally started to show encouraging signs of growth again. Moreover, as inventory in the general supply chain remain low, rush orders continue to be placed, thereby fueling optimism toward the TFT-LCD market outlook. Indeed, considering the low shipment base level in Dec08, low utilization [...]

Taipei, April 7, 2009—For Apr09, as downstream clients continue to replenish their inventory and prepare the launch of new models, coupled by the still tight supply of some components, panel prices will remain on an upward trend. Demand for the 40W and below TV panels has been strong, especially in the China local sales. This [...]

Panel makers huge financial losses triggers another component price war, says WitsView
Taipei, February 1, 2009—As panel makers gradually disclose their 4Q08 financial results, it is seen that even the first tier players have started to post huge financial losses. Obtaining further material costdown has become one of the most efficient ways to improve businesses. According [...]

Taipei, January 22, 2009—According to WitsView, the Top 10 SIs shipped a total of 7.9 million monitors in December. This amounted to a MoM drop of 11.8%. In the wake of the continuous macroeconomic woes, the decline was mainly attributed to the SIs’ inventory clearing since November, along with December’s year-end inventory accounting. The sharp [...]

Taipei, January 21, 2009—According to WitsView, a total of 405 million large-sized panels were shipped in 2008. Compared to the 371 million figures in 2007, this amounted to a YoY growth of 9%. TVs increased 19.4% YoY to 97.47 million units. Meanwhile, NB grew 17.4% 127.75 million, while monitors slipped by 0.6% to and 179.46 [...]

Taipei, January 20, 2009—According to WitsView, with the panel prices in the three main applications staying flat in 2HJan, the likelihood of prices hitting bottom in Jan or Feb has greatly increased. This has spurred downstream clients to prepare their inventory.

Since the Taiwan and China panel makers’ sharp production cutbacks in 4Q08, the average utilization [...]

Taipei, January 16, 2009—According to WitsView’s survey, worldwide large-size panel shipments reached 25.15 million units in December 2008, down slightly by 2.6% MoM. On a YoY basis, they slumped by 23.9%. Although the general end market demand remained uncertain, a stronger pull-in effect occurred during December. This stemmed from the fewer working days in Jan09 [...]

Taipei, January 12, 2008—In the wake of the severe downturn in the TFT-LCD industry last year, the MCI index underwent sharp persisting declines since June. It subsequently even fell to a new historical low of 3606. Although a signal in an improvement in the market fundamentals occurred in early December of 2008, where the index [...]