22.05.09
Signs of recovery in TFT LCD market
Shipments of large-area TFT LCD have reached a seven-month high of 40.1 million units in April 2009, according to DisplaySearch.
The market analyst added that as shipments increased six per cent from March 2009 and three per cent year on year revenues had hit $4.2 billion (€3 billion). Despite the positive news in shipments growth, revenues were still 39 per cent lower than April 2008, indicating the magnitude of price declines over the past year. But, large-area TFT LCD revenues did increase six per cent month on month. As DisplaySearch reported previously, the February shipment results indicated the TFT LCD industry had reached the bottom of the cycle, and then March results showed some recovery. April shipment results indicate a continuation of the large area TFT LCD industry’s recovery.
David Hsieh, vice president of DisplaySearch, said: “April results are encouraging for panel makers, as they reflect a healthy recovery in demand. Considering the current end-market demand and the low panel inventories, we expect that shipments will continue to grow in Q2’09, and we forecast that panel makers will reach 80 per cent capacity utilisation in Q2’09.”