After the Covid pandemic eased, the gaming display market appears to have entered a period of stagnation. However, with the rise of gaming in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia categorizing gaming as a next-gen industry, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics products are expected to reap the benefits, especially with the deepening collaboration between South Korea and Saudi Arabia in recent years.
As demand and panel makers' efforts to defend LCD panel prices decline, overall utilization at display fabs is anticipated to fall below 70% in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to Omdia.
Since Taiwan published its "Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050" early last year, the region has made great strides toward a wider adoption of renewable energy. In March 2023, the state-owned Taiwan Power Company announced that wind and solar had reached about 15% of the energy mix over seven consecutive days and even outpaced coal at one point. Further exemplifying that our pathway to net-zero is well underway, throughout 2022, Taiwan connected 2.5 GW of solar (on rooftops and fishponds) as well as more than 1 GW of offshore wind power capacity, the utility provider shared.
Tata became one of the iPhone assemblers in India after Wistron sold its Indian assets. India's smartphone market have seen shifts in recent quarters due to 5G and premiumization.
AUO recently divided the firm's operations into eight main business groups to expand its vertical businesses. The decision is in line with the firm's "dual-axis transformation" strategy to provide more value-added and specialized products.
One of the business models in the display industry is to offer a diversified range of products in small quantities. A company with 30,000 end-clients, 70% of orders less than 500 units each, and its largest client making up less than 5% of its revenue is cushioned against regional, industry, and client demand changes, says Winstar Display Chairman Liao Yu-Pin.
LED backlight unit (BLU) specialist Darwin Precisions expects to post flat sequential revenue growth in the fourth quarter, and a stronger 2024 compared to this year.
With electronic vehicles (EVs) and autonomous driving gaining prominence, AUO has been actively expanding its smart mobility ecosystem, and projects revenue in automotive applications to reach NT$40 billion (US$1.23 billion) in 2023. Following the company's acquisition of BHTC, AUO aims to leverage this synergy in its automotive human machine interface (HMI) production, with revenue in this sector projected to account for 40% of the company's automotive revenue, surpassing that of traditional display panels.
AUO Corp. released its consolidated revenues in the third quarter of 2023 on October 31, which totaled NT$70.11 billion, up by 10.7% quarter-over-quarter. AUO's net loss attributable to owners of the Company for the third quarter of 2023 was NT$0.98 billion, with a basic EPS(2) of -NT$0.13, further narrowing the losses from Q2 (-NT$0.63).
AU Optronics (AUO) has been actively positioning itself in the automotive market as automotive applications becoming the third largest product line at AUO, surpassing LCD monitors and reaching more than NT$10 billion (around US$309.87 million) in single-quarter revenue.
TV vendors' promotional campaigns during China's National Day period were hardly able to shore up their overall sales in the country, according to market sources.
Affected by the destocking effort of Apple, its supply chain partners are facing the pressure of sales decline in the second half of 2023. Touch panel suppliers TPK and GiS are also cautious over the sales outlook of the 4th quarter. However, with the destocking effort coming to an end, they have said that market demand is likely to crawl out of the bottom in 2024.
Market research firm Omdia projects the shipment of large-sized displays, including both LCD and OLED, will see a drop of 7.3% in 2023 compared to the previous year. This comes as the result of reduced demand for large-size displays and the operational adjustments made by panel manufacturers.
South Korea's manufacturing sector has sustained an impact from the US-China tech war, with the COVID-19 pandemic also seriously disrupting its supply chain operations. In response, Korean manufacturers have built production bases abroad in recent years. In particular, those making electronics components, computers, imaging devices and base station equipment are stepping up their investments in Vietnam and India, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest single report covering movements of Korean IT companies, especially Samsung Electronics, in the past several years and in the next few years.
AUO Corporation announced on October 2 that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which AUO will acquire 100% equity interest in the German company Behr-Hella Thermocontrol GmbH (BHTC) at an enterprise value of EUR600 million (US$628 million). AUO continues to implement its biaxial transformation strategy, expand applications in vertical markets, and establish the value chain ecosystem.
As Amazon has ceased the operation of its Kindle e-book store in China, now the world's largest e-book reader consumer market, Taiwan's cholesterol liquid crystal (ChLC) e-paper display camp composed of Iris Optronics, TPK Holdings and GeneTouch are actively rushing to fill the market gap left by Amazon's exit.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and Ministry of Finance recently jointly issued the Action Plan for Steady Growth of the Electronic Information Manufacturing Industry in 2023-2024. The directive mentioned that it is going to support the e-paper and the LCD industries in order to expedite the paperless transition. E-ink devices now have full-color displays. China is the main producer of e-paper modules. The e-paper market is up for a rapid boom.
InnoCare Optoelectronics Corporation (InnoCare) is working to grow its automated X-ray inspection (AXI) business. This includes expanding outside of the healthcare industry and finding more applications for the components and modules it produces. InnoCare General Manager Eric Lee estimated that shipments of AXI will exceed ten units this year and double in 2024.
Liquid crystal display (LCD) panel prices continued to rise in August, benefiting four major Taiwanese panel manufacturers' revenue growth. However, since the momentum of subsequent LCD panel price quotation hikes has slowed down, and demand is also seen weakening, the prices of LCD panels may slide again in Q4, and the utilization rate of the panel production lines in Q4 may be lower than in Q3.
Chinese TV makers like TCL and Hisense showcased several new ultra-large Micro LED and Mini LED TV products at IFA Berlin 2023. It appears that they are setting Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics as their benchmarks and intensifying their efforts to catch up.
As Apple has decided that the next-generation iPad Pro's 11-inch and 13-inch products will both adopt the OLED display panel, supply chain partners have already started to expand their touch panel capacity quietly so that they will be able to meet the demand of the new iPad Pro's launch, scheduled in the mid or second half of 2024.
In the first half of 2023, the two major South Korean brands, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, continued their dominance of the global TV market. Samsung maintained its spot as the market leader for the 18th consecutive year, while LG's OLED TV achieved a market share of over 50% in the OLED market.
Leading optical film manufacturer Wah Hong Industrial has announced its intent to expand its factory space, a move signaling the company's aggressive push into next-generation technologies. The company has been approved to move into Ciaotou Science Park, even as it evaluates alternative locations for expansion. The company hopes to start construction in 2-3 years.
Taiwan-based active-matrix (AM) miniLED flexible display provider PanelSemi, a subsidiary of Innolux, has partnered with E Ink, RapidSignage, and TopRGB Opto to release AM miniLED display, e-paper digital signage and e-paper tag solutions for a bookstore in southern Taiwan.
