Combined revenues of South Korea's major display driver IC companies – Silicon Works, Lucid Display Technology (LDT), Technology Leaders and Innovators (TLI) and Clover Hitech – fell 6.1% to KRW313.7 billion (US$284 million) in 2014, down for a second straight year, according to Digitimes Research.
Sales of Silicon Works' LCD driver IC (LDI) business also fell for the second straight year in 2014. Silicon Works' LDI revenues, which peaked at KRW378.9 billion in 2012, declined to KRW322.6 billion in 2013 and dropped further to KRW305.3 billion in 2014, said Digitimes Research. A slowdown in iPad sales growth led to the revenue decreases.
Silicon Works' LDI revenues in 2014 lagged behind fellow Taiwan-based LCD driver IC firms Novatek Microelectronics and Himax Technologies, but were ahead of ILi Technology (Ilitek), FocalTech Systems and Raydium Semiconductor. In terms of operating margins, Silicon Works' ranking moved to the second position among the six vendors in 2014, Digitimes Research indicated.
Silicon works may see its revenues expand as a result of its entry into the IC backend market, Digitimes Research noted. However, Silicon Works will likely suffer operating margin decreases despite the revenue growth.