WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports TV sales during the Chinese Labor Day holidays posted a yearly decline of 6%. However, TV brand vendors are moving away from strategies that are based on quantity to ones based on quality because of exchange rate fluctuations and shrinking margins. This steady shift in their operation focus is reflected in their increasing demands for the 48-inch and 49-inch panels as well as the 4K panel products. Large-sized TV panels will help consume more panel capacity overall.
The newest display panel shipment report from WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reveals that the combined shipments of the six largest panel makers in April totaled 19.68M units, an 8% monthly decline but a 5.4% increase compared with the same period of the previous year. Among them, only SDC maintained about the same shipment level as with the previous month, whereas the other five saw shipment decline.
Major Chinese panel makers BOE Technology Group Co. (BOE), China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT), and Nanjing CEC-Panda LCD Technology Co. (CEC-Panda) will begin mass production on their new Gen 8.5 fabs at the start of this year’s second quarter, according to the latest observation from WitsView, a division of TrendForce.
The latest panel price report from WitsView, a division of TrendForce, finds the prices for TV panels of mainstream sizes will hold steady in April as Chinese brand vendors are stocking up for Chinese Labor Day sales. Though panel prices are kept to a certain level, brand vendors have revised their shipment downwards and may later face inventory pressure. Therefore, the second quarter outlook after the month of May is more worrisome than upbeat.
The latest large-size panel shipment report from WitsView, a division of TrendForce, shows that the March shipments of large-size panels totaled 68.82M units. This figure represents a 17.3% increase over the prior month and a 3.4% year-on-year increase. The large-size panel market is recovering from February’s shipment slump as vendors stock up in preparation for the Chinese Labor Day sales.