Large-size 8K TV, OLED and gaming display applications were the main focus of CES 2019, with a number of 8K TVs showcased by TV vendors likely to be commercialized in 2019, Digitimes Research has found.

Taiwan-based touch panel makers General Interface Solution (GIS) and TPK Holding are expected to maintain stable shipments in the first half of 2019 thanks to orders for new iPad series products, according to industry sources.

BOE Technology has begun construction of its third 6G flexible OLED panel line in Chongqing with a capacity of 48,000 substrates a month, according to a sina.com report.

TV panel prices, which fell over 10% on average in the fourth quarter of 2018, will fall further in the first quarter of 2019 due to sluggish demand, but a silver lining is expected to emerge in the second quarter thanks to a production shift at Samsung Display, according to industry sources.

Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and HannStar Display have both reported decreased revenues for December, affected by weaker demand for small- to medium-size panels and reductions in panel prices.

LCD panel maker Innolux has reported consolidated revenues of NT$279.4 billion (US$9.073 billion) for 2018, down 15.1% from a year earlier.

Taiwan's LCD panel makers are revving up efforts to tap the lucrative market for public information displays (PIDs), which carry higher gross margins and are increasingly needed to support smart city and smart retail applications.

Taiwan-based LCD panel maker AU Optronics has reported its consolidated revenues for 2018 totaled NT$307.63 billion (US$9.98 billion), down by 9.8% on year.

AU Optronics (AUO) is showcasing at CES 2019 its products spanning from smart home, gaming to vehicle applications, including an 85-inch 8K4K bezel-less ALCD TV display that is already in mass production.and other gaming monitor and notebook displays.

Touch panel maker TPK Holding has reported revenues of NT$12.527 billion (US$406.24 million) for December, down 2.5% on month but up 9.6% on year.

With China-US trade tensions expected to continue heating up in 2019, the Taiwan government has worked out measures for five major industries to help them cushion the impacts.

General Interface Solution (GIS) has reported revenues of NT$17.64 billion (US$571.6 million) for December, up 10.8% on month and 32.71% on year.

Taiwan's LCD industry remains healthy despite the financial woes of one of its major players, Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), according to former Innolux chairman Tuan Hsing-chien.

The display industry must step up efforts catering to the market, providing new technologies that can meet growing demand for high resolution, high brightness screens, foldable and bendable devices, and free form panels, according Michael Heckmeier, executive vice president at Merck.

PMOLED panels are getting more popular, particularly in the customization niche markets where order volumes are small and yet product designs are diverse, according to industry sources.

Small- to medium-size flat panel makers in Taiwan and Japan engulfed in difficulties are desperately seeking ways to bail themselves out.

Mini LED backlighting and 8K LCD TVs are expected to significantly hike utilization of production capacities for LED epitaxial wafers and chips in 2019, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based IT technology developer Innovation and Transformation (INT) is scheduled to be listed on Taiwan's Emerging Stock Market on December 28 and is looking to achieve profitable operation in three years, according to company chairman David Chu.

Japan-based Sakai Display Products (SDP) will start annual maintenance at its 10G LCD line at the end of December, adjusting its production for about two weeks to reduce inventory during the low season, according to industry sources.

The US-China trade war, a key threat to the global economy in 2018, will continue to play a pivotal role in 2019. But what does it mean to the world's biggest manufacturer and market, and to the ICT industries in the neighboring tech-savvy island across the Taiwan Strait?

The production of 8K TV panels is likely to become the focus of competition in the global LCD panel industry in 2019 as makers in Taiwan, Korea and China are gearing up efforts to roll out related panels for the growing demand of large-size 8K TVs, according to industry sources.

PMOLED panel maker RiTdisplay plans to ramp up its production capacity by 15-20% in 2019 in order to cash in on increasing demand from the wearable, medical and networking device sectors, according to company CEO DC Wang.

Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) has said that it expects to resume the operations of its two fabs in northern Taiwan by the noon of December 22 after its key industrial gas supplier, Linde Lien Hwa Industrial Gases, began to restore the supply of nitrogen to its fabs on December 20.

Suppliers of glass substrates and liquid crystal materials for Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) are likely to incur the highest amounts of arrears due to the recent shutdown of CPT's two LCD fabs in Taiwan, according to industry sources.

Optical disc maker Ritek has announced that its subsidiary RiTdisplay, which makes PMOLED panels, and Liminit, a US-based maker of light shaping diffusers and transparent holographic components, will set up a joint venture developing light sources for automotive lighting.