Taiwan's LCD Manufacturers Slash Prices to Take Advantage of Mounting Demand
October 18, 2000 (TAIPEI) -- Taiwan's liquid-crystal display manufacturers have adopted the tactic of slashing prices to better their positions in the market.
As leading global manufacturers have significantly expanded their production of LCDs, the price of 15-inch TFT-LCDs, the core-product in the industry, dropped to below US$600 per unit at the end of 1999. The price is predicted to slide further, possibly to less than US$470, in the fourth quarter.
As a result, observers expect the LCD market to grow quickly during the fourth quarter, as the market takes advantage of the price cut in 15-inch panels. In response to this potential surge in demand, several LCD manufacturers, including ViewSonic Corp. and Acer Communications & Multimedia Inc., have cut their prices to sharpen their competitiveness. ACM has been particularly decisive in its approach, slashing the price of its 15-inch LCDs by more than 15 percent.
Mounting demand for LCDs follows a period of several months in which panel prices fell by between US$5 and US$10 a month. Although the market has not yet been able to enjoy the benefits of these price cuts, a market watcher predicts that the present low prices will quickly stimulate demand once downstream manufacturers digest their LCD inventories of the more expensive panels.
According to the Institute for Information Industry's statistics, Taiwan's demand for LCDs will reach 285,000 units in 2000, and increase sharply to 680,000 units in 2001. Demand in 1999 was for a mere 192,000 units.
(Commercial Times, Taiwan) |
