China-based makers turned out 24 million LCD TV panels for a global market share of 10.5% in 2012 and will produce an estimated 44 million panels to account for 17.6% of the global total in 2013, according to vice president and secretary-general Bai Weimin for the China Video Industry Association. However, China-based vendors will produce more than 120 million LCD TVs in 2013, meaning that domestic supply of LCD TV panels will be short of demand by at least 76 million units or 63.3%, Bai noted.
Seven first-tier China-based LCD TV vendors will procure more than 30 million panels from Taiwan-based makers in 2013, with total value estimated to exceed US$4.5 billion and the average size to exceed 40-inch, Bai said at the 2013 Display Taiwan exhibition.
China-based vendors procured 103 million LCD TV panels worth US$18.1 billion in total from Taiwan makers during 2008-2012, Bai said.
China-based TFT-LCD panel makers BOE Technology and China Star Optoelectronics Technology have fully utilized their respective 8.5G production capacities, Bai noted. In addition, there are 6-7 8.5G plants under construction or planning, Bai indicated. If these plants are completed as scheduled, total panel capacity in China will reach 57 million square meters, equivalent to 82.64 million LCD TV panels, at the end of 2015, with the capacity estimated to meet only 55% of demand from China-based LCD TV vendors, Bai said. Therefore, China-based LCD TV vendors will procure panels from Taiwan-based makers in 2014 and 2015, Bai added.
In addition to TFT-LCD panels, the China government has been boosting the development of local supply chains for key components and materials including glass substrates, polarizers, backlight units and color filters, Bai said. Local supply has accounted 31% of domestic demand for such components and materials and the self-sufficiency is expected to rise to over 60% in 2015, Bai indicated.
Mainly due to energy-saving subsidies offered by the government, sales of 11.45 million color TVs (mostly LCD models) in the China market during the first quarter of 2013 hiked by 35% on year, Bai said. Currently in the China market, the proportion of LCD TV sales that are 32-inch models has risen to 46.9% and demand for above 50-inch models is increasing, Bai indicated.
Taiwan- and China-based makers can cooperate on next-generation display technologies including OLED, touch panels, naked-eye 3D, projection and Ultra HD to tap the international market, Bai pointed out.
China Video Industry Association vice president and secretary-general Bai Weimin
Photo: Rebecca Kuo, Digitimes, June 2013
Article translated by Adam Hwang
