Taiwan Gears Up to Meet Surging TFT-LCD Demand
January 7, 2001 (TAIPEI) -- Several thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display makers are now aggressively expanding their production capacities to meet the strong demand that started early in the fourth quarter of 2001.
A TFT-LCD maker said that about 14 million LCD monitors would be sold in 2001, and predicted that the figure would jump to about 25 million units in 2002. Industry sources said much of the new demand comes from people replacing traditional cathode-ray tube monitors with LCD models.
Most leading makers in the line have received unprecedented big-ticket orders, including AU Optronics Corp. (formerly Acer Display Technology Inc. and Unipac Optoelectronics Corp.), Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO), and HannStar Display Corp.
Hsu Jen-ting, vice president of CMO, said that his company has finally begun to see some light after a year-long slump in the TFT-LCD sector. CMO expects to deliver 220,000 to 240,000 LCD panels in October, a new monthly record for the company, and deliveries could reach 270,000 panels in November, he said.
According to Hsu, CMO expects to deliver 2 million to 2.2 million TFT-LCD panels this year. Output should soar to 8 million panels in 2002, including Japanese production from the IBM Japan-invested International Display Technology (IDT), in which CMO recently became a major investor.
Chen Shuen-bin, president of the newly merged AU Optronics, said his company received orders for about 600,000 LCD panels in October, and expects to deliver a record 500,000 to 550,000 panels this month. Chen added that orders for November have topped 600,000 panels, and demand is expected to remain strong through December 2001.
Chen said that AU Optronics' fourth-quarter deliveries would far exceed 1 million panels, bringing the company's year-end shipments to about 4.2 million panels. He said that AU Optronics expects to turn out about 7 million LCD panels next year with the added capacity from the company's recent merger.
AU Optronics plans to raise money for the installation of new production lines soon, Chen said.
Chunghwa secured orders for more than 420,000 LCD panels in December 2001 and 460,000 panels for January 2002. The company is speeding up capacity expansions at its second TFT-LCD plants to meet the booming demand. Chunghwa expects to deliver about 2.2 million LCD panels in 2001 and about 4.5 million units a year after the new lines are installed.
HannStar delivered a record 200,000-plus LCD panels in October, and expects to ship 220,000 panels in November.
Some of the said LCD panel makers are also striving to cut production costs to enhance international competitiveness. AU Optronics plans to lower its materials costs by about 5 percent in the fourth quarter of this year and by about 15 percent to 20 percent in 2002. Chunghwa recently indicated that it has similar cost-cutting targets.
(Commercial Times, Taiwan) |
