Chart 1: Taiwan TFT-LCD component makers’ production value 2003-2005 (m US$)
Chart 3: Taiwan-based CF makers’ production value 4Q02-4Q04 (k US$)
Table 1: CF shipments from Taiwan’s 3.5G plants in 2004 (k substrates [620x750m])
Table 2: CF shipments from Taiwan’s 4G, 4.5G plants in 2004 (k substrates)
Table 3: CF shipments from Taiwan’s 5G plants in 2004 (k substrates)
Table 4: Taiwan’s 5G CF production and next-generation projects
Table 5: Taiwan-based polarizer maker output 2003-2005 (k m2)
Chart 5: Optimax’s polarizer shipment value 2Q02-4Q04 (m US$)
Table 7: Taiwan makers’ current backlight module output and breakdown by large-size applications
Chart 6: Taiwan backlight module makers’ shipment value 1Q02-4Q04 (k US$)
Introduction
TFT-LCD panel prices started to decline in the second quarter of 2004. In the fourth quarter, quotes for 15- and 17-inch LCD panels were even lower than production costs. The prices for the panels’ key components – color filters, polarizers, and backlight modules – also dropped as a result. However, thanks to increased shipments, the combined production value of Taiwan’s LCD component makers in 2004 still managed to grow 60% from 2003.
Shipments from the component makers in 2005 are expected to grow 35% as a result of the panel makers’ next-generation plants coming online. However, the component makers remain under pressure from price cuts in the first half of 2005 as demand for panels is expected to still fall slightly short of supply. The combined production value of component makers in 2005 will grow only 25%, a substantial decrease from the 60% growth recorded in 2004. Their 2005 gross margins are expected to remain flat.
Chart 1: Taiwan TFT-LCD component makers’ production value 2003-2005 (m US$)
Note: LCD panel makers’ in-house component production not included
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
Color filters
In addition to the panel makers’ in-house color filter (CF) operations, there were five dedicated CF makers working in Taiwan during 2004. The Taiwan-based players were Sintek Photronic, Allied Material Technology Corporation (AMTC), Cando and South Sintek Photronic. Toppan CFI (Taiwan), a subsidiary of Japan-based Toppan Printing, began production at the Tainan Science Park (TSP).
CFs are a key component accounting for almost 30% of the TFT-LCD panel’s manufacturing cost. Most of Taiwan’s TFT-LCD makers used to import CFs from Japan, except Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), who has always insisted on in-house CF production since its business started. Currently, Taiwan has yet to be fully self-sufficient in terms of CF supply. Panel makers still rely at least in part on Japanese imports.
Starting from scratch in 2002, Taiwan’s CF sector enjoyed high growth in 2003, but as expansion plans were mostly completed in 2004, there was only 31% growth during the year.
Chart 2: Taiwan-based CF makers’ output 2002-2007 (k m2)
Note: LCD panel makers’ in-house CF production not included
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
South Sintek, a newcomer to the sector in 2004, will ramp up its production in 2005 as demand from clients grows. Sintek is expected to be able to double its shipments after completing its plan to merge with affiliate South Sintek. Cando’s 4.5G line is scheduled to come online in the fourth quarter of 2005. AMTC has suspended its 6G project, planning to redirect investment into expanding its 5G line.
The growth in Taiwan-based CF makers’ production value (calculated from revenues) began to decline in the second quarter of 2004. In the third quarter, growth fell below zero, and in the fourth quarter, it further dropped 13% over the third quarter. The quick decline was in line with the price drops hitting the LCD panel makers.
Chart 3: Taiwan-based CF makers’ production value 4Q02-4Q04 (k US$)
Note: Production value refers to makers’ revenues; Cando’s 2002 production value is a quarterly average.
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
3.5G lines
AMTC is the only Taiwan-based maker who can supply small-to-medium-size CFs in volume. When it was established, AMTC received technological transfer from Toppan Printing, and its 3.5G line processing 620x750mm substrates was modeled on the Japan maker’s H7 plant, which produced both small-to-medium-, and large-size CFs.
Sintek obtained its technology from Japan’s Dai Nippon Printing (DNP), a company with a strong focus on large size applications. As a result, Sintek chiefly caters to notebook- and monitor-use panels, but it is also developing a 3.5G line for small-to-medium-size CFs.
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2004
After its management was taken over by LCD panel maker AU Optronics (AUO) last year, Cando has enjoyed steady shipments. Its maximum monthly output in 2004 reached 60,000 substrates, of which 50,000 were shipped to AUO. Although Cando continues supplying to South Korea-based LCD panel maker BOE Hydis, shipments are limited. Cando once tried to develop small-to-medium-size CFs, but as its equipment was designed for large-size panels, it decided in the second half of 2004 to stay focused on notebook- and monitor-use CFs.
4-4.5G lines
The 4G and 4.5G lines of Sintek, AMTC, and Toppan CFI can all make smaller-size CFs. Sintek’s 4.5G line, which can also process 4G and 3.5G substrates in 680x880mm and 620x750mm sizes respectively, had a maximum monthly output of 75,000 4G and 4.5G substrates in 2004, most which were shipped to HannStar.
AMTC’s 4G line also processes 3.5G 620x750mm substrates for HannStar Display and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT). AMTC’s maximum monthly output at its 4G line in 2004 was 80,000 substrates. Toppan CFI operates two CF lines, numbered H10 and H11, at the Tainan TSP, the former being a 4.5G line supplying mainly to AUO and CPT, and the latter a 5G line.
Note: 4G and 4.5G plants also process smaller-size CF substrates.
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
5G lines
South Sintek, a joint venture of HannStar and Sintek, was built with the aim to meet half of the demand from HannStar’s 5G LCD panel-making plant at TSP. HannStar’s 5G plant has a monthly capacity of 120,000 substrates, with half of the CF supply coming from in-house production. As South Sintek is merging with Sintek, the other half of HannStar’s CFs will be coming from Sintek.
South Sintek’s 5G line tested production in February 2004, with an initial yield of less than 10%. Not until May was South Sintek able to say its yield had reached 80%. Its May output also amounted to 35,000 substrates, half of the production line’s full capacity of 70,000 substrates per month.
In the third quarter, however, declining prices began to take their toll on both HannStar and South Sintek. HannStar’s 5G line, which suffered an extra blow because of equipment problems, saw its production drop drastically, which in turn caused a reduction in its CF demand from South Sintek. It is estimated that South Sintek’s shipments to Hannstar for the third and fourth quarters amounted to only 65,000 and 70,000 substrates respectively.
HannStar’s 5G LCD panel output rebounded to 42,000 substrates in January 2005, and was expected to reach 50,000 in February, more than double the 24,000 shipped in September 2004. The increase in HannStar’s shipments came as good news for South Sintek. Meanwhile, South Sintek also has been actively developing new clients. It has shipped samples to AUO and Quanta Display.
Toppan CFI’s H11 Plant suspended operation in December 2003 to make way for new equipment installation. It restarted production in February 2004, with an increase in monthly capacity to 85,000 substrates from the original 40,000.
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2004
Next-generation CF production lines
As it is a growing trend among panel makers to run their own in-house CF production, dedicated CF makers are faced with a bottleneck in their development. They have become cautious about expanding beyond the 5G production.
As Taiwan-based panel makers will all have in-house CF production at their 6G plants, Sintek has said it will not rush to build a 6G CF plant, and AMTC has suspended its 6G project. Cando, now under the control of AUO, is focusing on expanding its 4.5G line, and it is unlikely to move on to build a next-generation CF plant. Toppan CFI, the Taiwan-based subsidiary of Toppan Printing, is the only exception: it is constructing a 6G CF line in Taiwan.
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
Polarizers
Optimax Technology is the only Taiwan-based maker that can volume produce polarizers for TFT-LCD panels. Daxon Technology’s polarizer line for TFT-LCD panels has yet to start volume production. There is a third Taiwan-based polarizer maker, Jantex Technology, but it only makes polarizers for low-end twisted nematic (TN) displays.
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
With all shipments going to the domestic Taiwan market, Optimax had a 50-55% share of the Taiwan market in 2004. The shipments represented a 29% share of the global market. Optimax’s shares of the Taiwan market in 2002 and 2003 were 49% and 55% respectively, and its shares of the world market in 2002 and 2003 were 15% and 20% respectively.
Optimax currently has five operational production lines, numbered L1 to L5. L1 caters to TN and STN panels, while L2 to L5 produce TFT-LCD-use polarizers.The capacity of its L6 line is yet to be in use, while its L8 line is expected to be ready to come online in April 2005.
In the fourth quarter of 2004, Optimax’s monthly capacity for TFT-LCD-use polarizers amounted to 2.7 million square meters, but only 60% of the capacity was in use, processing substrates of about 1.4 million meters.
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
In the fourth quarter of 2004, Optimax’s shipments of TFT-LCD-use polarizers accounted for 90% of the company’s entire shipment value. Of this 90 percentage points for TFT-LCD-use polarizers, 74 percentage points were for notebook- and monitor-use panels, and 13 percentage points for TVs.
Chart 4: Optimax’s CF shipment value by application 4Q04
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
To fend off Nitto Denko’s pricing campaign in Taiwan in the fourth quarter, Optimax lowered the prices for its polarizers, resulting in on-quarter drops in both revenues and gross margins.
Chart 5: Optimax’s polarizer shipment value 2Q02-4Q04 (m US$)
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
Optimax may not be able to clear its inventory until after the second quarter of 2005 because of the LCD sector’s slow recovery from the doldrums. However, it already received more orders in January over December. It hopes to minimize polarizer price drops to within 10% for 2005.
Triacetyl cellulose (TAC) films
Fujifilm has 80% of the TAC (a chief component for polarizers) world market, and is investing 100 billion yen to build a new plant making the material. Construction of the new plant is scheduled to begin in 2005, and it will be operational at the end of 2006.
Fujifilm currently has two plants in Japan. The company’s TAC outputs in 2003 amounted to 180 million square meters, and reached 280 million square meters in 2004. The new plant’s initial annual output will be 50 million square meters, ramping up to 300 million square meters in 2010. Fujifilm’s total capacity in 2010 is expected to reach 600 million square meters, more than double the capacity of 2004.
As current TAC output is limited, suppliers impose a quota system that forms a barrier to newcomers to the polarizer sector. However, when Fujifilm’s plants reach their full capacities, the game may be played in a different way.
Backlight modules
Radiant Opto-Electronics, the largest backlight module maker in Taiwan, has the facilities to make its own plastic injection molds and light guide panels. Its shipments are chiefly higher-margin notebook-use modules. Monitor-use backlight modules, whose margins are slim because of fierce competition, are only a minor business for Radiant. The company is expanding production of LCD-TV-use backlight modules. Except for its LCD-TV-use backlight module production line, Radiant has moved its other production lines for notebook- and monitor-use backlight modules to China.
Coretronic chiefly supplies backlight modules for monitors, but LCD-TV-use backlight modules account for 20% of its backlight module shipments, a higher proportion than any other Taiwan maker.
Forhouse makes backlight modules solely for monitors, and 90% of its shipments are delivered to AUO. As its subsidiary in China came online in the third quarter of 2004, Forhouse’s revenues grew substantially in the fourth quarter. Forhouse is also developing new clients, with Quanta Display possibly being one of them.
Monitor-use backlight modules are K-Bridge’s chief products, followed by notebook-use backlight-modules. K-Bridge started delivering samples of LCD-TV-use backlight modules in the beginning of 2005.
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005
As backlight-module making is a labor-intensive sector, Taiwan makers’ expansion projects mostly take place in China to take advantage of the cheap labor there, and to shorten delivery time to LCD module (LCM) plants in China.
The business of the backlight-module sector is tied up with the fast growing TFT LCD sector. As LCD prices continue dropping, revenues for backlight-module makers are expected to decline in 2005.
Chart 6: Taiwan backlight module makers’ shipment value 1Q02-4Q04 (k US$)
Source: DigiTimes Research, February 2005