北京时间04月18日消息，中国触摸屏网讯，LCD industry to benefit from shift to bigger screens. The global LCD industry is expected to experience another healthy year this year, as replacement demand for bigger televisions and higher-definition TVs helps digest new capacities from China, researcher IHS Technology Inc said yesterday.

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Demand for LCD panels is expected to grow by 8 percent this year from last year, while supply is forecast to grow by a slower 6 percent, IHS vice president David Hsieh (謝勤益) said.

That means supply and demand are likely to reach a parity this year.

Consumers who bought LCD TVs in 2008 and 2009 are likely to replace their old 32-inch TVs with bigger models, like 42-inch models, this year, Hsieh said.

About 110 million units of LCD TVs were shipped between 2008 and 2009, he said.

New display technology, such as ultra-high-definition 4K, should also help stimulate replacement demand for bigger TVs, he said.
IHS expects penetration of 4K TVs to increase to 15 percent this year, from 8 percent last year.

“This replacement cycle will support demand for bigger TVs over the three-year period to 2017,” Hsieh said. “The demand will help digest new capacities from Chinese plants this year.”

IHS expects the size of TV flat panels to rise to 41 inches on average in 2017, from 31 inches in 2003.

Despite the positive long-term outlook, the LCD industry will suffer from an inventory correction in the next two quarters, it said.

The prices of LCD panels are expected to drop moderately by 5 percent quarterly this quarter and next quarter, if Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s biggest TV maker, cuts its TV shipment target only slightly to 55 million units this year from an original goal of 60 million units, Hsieh said.

A severe oversupply of PC panels has driven the prices of 14-inch panels down to US$35 per unit, lower than panel manufacturers’ costs.

“Dell [Inc], HP [Hewlett-Packard Co] and Lenovo [Group Ltd, 聯想] have piled up too many notebook computer panels in the fourth quarter,” Hsieh said.

He said Taiwanese TV panel makers are expected to remain profitable despite the inventory correction.

Even if the price of 32-inch panels falls to US$80 per unit, Innolux Corp (群創光電) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) would still be profitable because their cost is only US$65 to US$74, he added.

Analyst forecasts more balanced LCD market in 2015

Taipei, April 16 (CNA) The global market for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels will become more balanced between supply and demand after an undersupply in 2014, a local analyst predicted Thursday.

The global demand for LCD screens is forecast to grow 8 percent in 2015, outpacing an estimated 6 percent increase in worldwide LCD production capacity, said David Hsieh, senior director for display at research firm IHS DisplaySearch.

In comparison, LCD demand grew by 11 percent in 2014, far exceeding supply growth of 5 percent, Hsieh said.

"2014 was a tight year with demand for larger TVs growing on an area basis. Also, effective capacity was influenced by new technologies and lower yield rates," he said at the Taiwan Flat Panel Display Conference organized by IHS DisplaySearch.

While 2015 is expected to be a balanced year, over-shipments of LCD TV panels over the past two years will likely result in some inventory adjustments in the first half of this year, especially on some mainstream sizes, Hsieh noted.

For 2016, the analyst forecast that the global LCD market will gradually shift to oversupply with an estimated demand growth of 7 percent and supply growth of 8 percent.

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