LCD panel prices down despite glass plant woes
Panel oversupply will cut fourth quarter prices
Jim Carbone -- Purchasing, 11/10/2009 11:44:45 PM
Liquid crystal display panel prices will fall in the fourth
quarter, despite a power outage at a Corning
production plant in Taiwan
that reduced glass supply to liquid crystal display (LCD) makers, according to
researcher iSuppli.
The average price of an LCD panel will fall by about 3% in November and in December says the researcher.
Corning, the largest maker of glass LCD panel substrates, suffered a power disruption at its plant in Taichung, Taiwan in October. The outage shut down several of the facility's glass melting tanks.
It may take two months to repair the tanks and bring the plant back up to full operation. As a result, glass supply to Taiwanese LCD manufacturers will be reduced by 5-10%. Total global supply will be cut by less than 5%.
The shortfall will affect supply of LCD panel used in notebook computers and 32-inch LCD televisions. However, prices will still decline because there has been an oversupply of LCD panels since September, says Sweta Dash, senior director, LCD research, for iSuppli
"Many panel suppliers were hoping that a glass shortage would mitigate the downward pressure on LCD prices," says Dash. But it won't happen because of high inventory levels.
In addition most electronics OEMs have already purchased LCD panels they'll need for the holiday selling season and LCD sales already started to decelerate.
The shutdown of the Taiwan plant was the second operational setback in as many months for Corning. In August, an earthquake in Japan forced Corning to shut down a glass factory in Shizuoka.
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