Displaysearch released figures for sales of large area TFT LCD panels in July and said shipments of 49.2 million units is a record for the sector.
Sales rose by 39 percent year on year, with shipments pumped into notebook PCs, LCD TVs and netbooks. David Hsieh, VP at the market research company, said: “July was a record breaking month. This indicates strong recovery in end market demand and increased utilization at panel makers.”
However, what’s good for the LCD manufacturers isn’t good for the buyer. He said that panel prices continued to rise. Despite that, OEMs and brand players are building up stock for the holiday season. “Displaysearch believes it is very important to watch inventories carefully in September, especially for LCD monitor and LCD TV panels.”
The winner in the sector was LG Display, which bagged 24.7 percent of market share. Close behind was Samsung with 23.4 percent, while AUO held 16.8 percent.
Notebook shipments also showed strong growth. 7.4 million square meters of TFT LCD glass shipped in July. While the market research firm believes that shipments will increase again in August, a shortage of glass substrate will limit production. That follows an earthquake in Japan which badly affected Corning’s total production.
