Notebook vendors hope they can sell touch panel notebook products cheaper in 2013 but may not be able to due to high costs in using one glass solution (OGS) technology as a result of bottlenecks in backend production, particularly the low production capacity and low yields for the second tempering process, according to industry sources.
OGS panels, which most touch-enabled notebooks adopt, need to go through another chemical tempering process after cutting from the substrates, and yield rates are only around 60-70% depending on makers' technologies, the sources said, adding that production capacity at first-tier makers is insufficient, while second-tier ones lack the experience to maintain stable output.
There are also US$70-80 costs for laminating notebook touch panels, higher than the US$50 costs downstream makers have been hoping for in order to allow touch notebooks to drop in price during 2013, the sources added. Notebook touch panel shortages may not ease until the fourth quarter of the year, noted the sources.
Touch panel supplier TPK noted that its focus for 2013 is on vertically integration and mass production for customized products. It disclosed that its subsidiary Cando will ramp production at its 4.5G and 5.5G plants in the second half of the year. A glass processing plant jointly set up by TPK and Cando will also start mass production in August 2013, supporting the chemical tempering process for Cando's OPGS solutions.
OGS costs to affect touch panel notebook pricing in 2013
Photo: Michael Lee, Digitimes, April 2013
Article translated by Alex Wolfgram
