Costlier memory chips impact Chinese LCD TV makers
Brands squeezed by costlier memory chips are cutting orders for small TV panels, the sizes mainland makers dominate, Runto says.
All four mainland Chinese makers of LCD TV panels shipped fewer panels in the third quarter than a year earlier, research firm Runto (洛图科技) says, and their combined share of world shipments fell 2.6 percentage points to 71.3%. That reverses the first half of the year, when their shipments and their share both rose, Runto said in August.
The cause, according to Runto's quarterly report: costlier memory chips have raised the cost of building a TV, and brands, unable to pass that on in thin-margin small sets, are buying fewer small and mid-size panels. Shipments of 32-inch panels fell 28.3% on the year. Together, BOE (京东方), TCL CSOT (华星光电) and HKC (惠科) shipped about 70% of all 32-inch panels and about 70% of 43-inch ones in the first half, Runto said in August.
Panels of 55 inches and larger rose 11.3% on the year, so while panel shipments fell 6.4% to 59.4 million, panel area rose 2.3%. Panels of 98 inches and up rose 20.2% from a year earlier, and the same three mainland makers have shipped about 94% of them so far this year, Runto says.
HKC fell furthest, down 18.1% on the year, and Taiwan's Innolux, down 1.8%, passed it for third place. CHOT, a small maker with one production line, fell 7.4%. Only Taiwan's AUO (友達), up 9.3%, and Japan's Sharp, up 8.4%, grew on the year. AUO's rise follows a first half in which its shipments fell from a year earlier, Runto said in August. Runto didn't say what drove the rebound.
Runto points to BOE as a sign of the pressure on panel makers: the company, which makes far more than TV panels, swung to a third-quarter net loss on revenue down 8.62% on the year, its quarterly report shows. AUO expects TV panel shipments to fall by a single-digit percentage in the fourth quarter and next year while area keeps growing, Anue (鉅亨網) reported. BOE, TCL CSOT and HKC sent price-rise letters in September, but prices held flat in October; Runto sees a small December rise as increasingly likely.
Sources
Editor: Ian Lamont
