Greater China touch panel market

As mobile phones and other portable products have switched en masse to touchscreens, and sales of tablet devices have taken off in 2010 under the influence of Apple's iPad, the touch panel market is expected to exhibit rapid growth over the coming years, with annual growth approaching 20% expected through 2013.

China is the world's largest producer of touch panels and China and Taiwan combined to account for close to 80% of touch modules for handsets shipped in 2010.

Taiwan-based touch panel manufacturers' advantages in terms of capacity, yield and production costs have allowed them to achieve excellent shipment results during the current touchscreen craze. The most thriving application sectors for small- to medium-size touch panels include mobile phones and tablet devices. In terms of touch panel modules for mobile phone use, Taiwan-based manufacturers' shipments are predicted to reach 280 million in 2011; all the touch modules used by the iPad are sourced from Taiwan-based manufacturers, while Taiwan-based firms' estimated shipments of touch modules for tablet devices other than the iPad are predicted to reach 1.77 million units in 2010, rising to 10.82 million in 2011.

This DIGITIMES Special Report provides an overview of the key technologies, applications and industry players in the Greater China region influencing growth in the global small- to medium and large-size touch panel market through 2013.