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Tony Huang, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei [Tuesday 27 November 2012]
Global large-size (9-inch and above) TFT LCD panel shipments will reach 722 million units in 2013, decreasing 3.5% from 749 million units shipped in 2012, as a result of weakening demand from the PC sector, Digitimes Research estimates. Shipments for notebook and monitor applications will both decrease, contributing to the rare annual decrease for the LCD panel industry. But TV applications will see a significant increase in average panel area in 2013 amid of growing demand for bigger screens. The average TV panel size will be 38.8-inch in 2013, up from 36.6-inch in 2012, as shipments to the 29-inch, 39-inch and 50-inch and larger segments will all go up, according to Digitimes Research's estimation. From 2007-2011, the annual increase in average size was between 0.8-1-inch. In terms of panel area, TV applications will account for 72.3% of total large-size LCD shipments, up from 69.1% in 2012.
Global production capacity of large-size TFT LCD panels is expected to grow by only 3.4% in 2013, its lowest rate ever. Taiwan-based makers' production capacity for large-size panels is expected to rise by 3.2% on year in 2013 even though Innolux Corporation, formerly known as Chimei Innolux (CMI), is expected to increase its production by 5% during the period. Japan-based panel makers will see a slight decrease of 1.8% in large-size TFT LCD panel capacity in 2013 as Sharp and Panasonic will be focusing more on producing small- to medium-size panels, said Digitimes Research. Korea-based panel makers will experience their first-ever decline in large-size TFT LCD panel production capacity in 2013 due to LG Display (LGD) converting some of its 8.5G capacity to producing OLED TV panels.
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