Samsung Electronics is expected to double its purchases of TV LCD panels from BOE in 2026 while cutting orders from CSOT, as Samsung and LG Electronics rebalance their supplier mixes in an LCD market increasingly dominated by Chinese panel makers.
Novatek, a Taiwan-based display driver integrated circuit (DDI) supplier, said at its August 6 investor conference that second-quarter 2026 revenue and gross margin exceeded expectations, supported by stronger customer orders across all three major product lines and a sharp sequential increase in profit.
AI-driven demand for advanced packaging is giving old-generation panel fabs and equipment new value. As Taiwan's panel makers accelerate the phaseout of LCD capacity at the 5.5 generation and below, they are splitting into two tracks: selling factories to foundries and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) providers, or keeping lines in-house to develop fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP), through-glass via (TGV), redistribution layer (RDL), and glass core technologies.
A Chinese equipment maker has sold OLED production tools directly to LG Display for the first time, a small order that gives a Chinese supplier a foothold in a production network long served by Korean equipment makers.
AUO said panel demand will come under pressure in the second half. IT channel inventories remain elevated, with notebook inventories particularly high. TV inventories, however, stay healthy, supported by the 2026 FIFA World Cup and year-end promotion campaigns.
Corning has unveiled an early-stage fiber-to-chip connector concept that could reshape optical packaging if it matures, though the company says the technology is still far from commercial use. GlassBridge is aimed at passive alignment in advanced systems, underscoring the convergence of AI infrastructure, photonics, and packaging.
