Displays & panels

Newer LCD and OLED lines drain notebook orders from IVO’s lone G5 fab

Notebook brands are concentrating orders on rivals' larger production lines, the Kunshan-based LCD maker told the Shanghai exchange.

Cbot Crew

Cbot Crew

— 2 min read
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Line chart of notebook panels' share of InfoVision Optoelectronics' sales, falling from about half in 2023 to under a fifth in the first half of 2026.

InfoVision Optoelectronics (龙腾光电, IVO), one of China's earliest LCD panel makers, says notebook brands are moving orders away from its only production line. Notebook panels' share of its sales fell to 17% in the first half of 2026, from 54% in 2023, IVO told the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Nov. 3, answering questions on its half-year results.

IVO runs one Generation 5 (G5) line in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, between Shanghai and Suzhou; the number reflects the size of its glass sheets. In its reply, IVO said new capacity on China's higher-generation lines has squeezed lower-generation lines, and notebook brands have gradually concentrated purchasing there.

Overseas, where its main customers include notebook brands such as HP and Lenovo, IVO's notebook-panel revenue fell 72% year on year in the first half of 2026, a drop of 206.8 million yuan (about US$30.8 million).

IVO didn’t say which lines took its orders. But research firm TrendForce estimated in March that Generation 8.6 lines would make up about 26% of global LCD capacity in 2026. Gen 5 and older lines would make up about 4.7%. Several new 8.6 lines are targeting notebook and car panels, which TrendForce said would put “significantly greater pressure on the less competitive Gen-5 and Gen-6 fabs.”

Car and industrial panel sales have risen since 2023 and phone panels held roughly steady, IVO said. But the new mix sells for less: the average price per glass sheet fell from 3,907 yuan (about US$582) in 2023 to 2,373 yuan (about US$353) in the first half of 2026, mainly because it shipped fewer high-value business-notebook panels, IVO said. Its gross margin on its main business fell from 6.8% to 1.4% over the same period. IVO said four panel makers it chose for comparison all had negative gross margins over that time.

The slide continued in the third quarter: revenue fell 24.2% year on year to 465.5 million yuan (about US$69.3 million), with a net loss of 123.4 million yuan (about US$18.4 million), according to its quarterly report.

IVO's reply also blamed new OLED lines in mainland China and South Korea aimed at high-end notebooks and tablets. Research firm TrendForce expects global notebook shipments to fall 9.4% in 2026, and forecasts OLED notebook shipments to grow nearly 40% in 2026 and more than 40% in 2027.

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Editor: Ian Lamont

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