Global TFT-LCD equipment sales climbed 51.4% in 2010 following a 32.1% drop in 2009. Growth will be moderate in 2011, rising by 3.6%, before accelerating to a 39.3% expansion in 2012, according to market research firm The Information Network.
"At the end of 2010 we saw utilization rates above 90% for all TFT-LCD manufacturing and nearly 95% for 6G and above plants − a driver for increased capex and equipment purchases in 2010. The 51% growth is the greatest since 2004," noted Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network.
Sales of the array processing equipment were in response to the resurgence in purchases of TVs, notebooks, and desktops following the global economic recession in 2009, The Information Network said. Korea led in capex spending from LG Display and Samsung.
Large-size TFT-LCD panel shipments increased 25.6% from 528.3 million units in 2009 to 663.7 million in 2010, The Information Network indicated. The market will reach 1.3 billion units in 2013 on the strength of notebook sales, the firm said.
Ulvac continues to be the dominant supplier of equipment, having led the market for the past five years, according to The Information Network. But Ulvac's share slid dropped to 20.5% in 2010 from 28.5% in 2009. Applied Materials/AKT, the only non-Japanese manufacturer of equipment, moved up to second position in 2010 from forth in 2009.
| The Information Network: Major LCD equipment suppliers, 2004-2010 | |||||||||
| Company | Country | Tools | Ranking | ||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |||
| Applied Materials/AKT | USA | CVD | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Canon | Japan | lithography | 4 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Daifuku | Japan | Automation | 8 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 |
| DNS | Japan | coater/developer | 3 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 8 |
| Hitachi High Tech | Japan | cleaner, developer, exposure, inspection, | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Nikon | Japan | lithography | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Shibaura | Japan | cleaner | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Tokyo Electron | Japan | coater/developers, etcher/asher | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| ULVAC | Japan | sputter, CVD | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Source: The Information Network, compiled by Digitimes, July 2011
Article translated by Jessie Shen
