Easily missed in the run-up to Black Friday in the US last week was a decision by the Indian government to allow 51% foreign ownership of multi-brand retail stores, as well as 100% ownership of single brand retail stores (for example, Apple stores). While Walmart and Metro, for example, currently operate in wholesale markets within India, they, as well as Carrefour, Tesco, and others, will be able to operate in India’s retail sector, estimated at $500 billion.
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Category Archives: FPD Industry News
Gen 5.5 AMOLED Fab in Inner Mongolia?
On August 12, the BOE Group announced that it will invest CNY22 billion ($3.5 billion) to build a Gen 5.5 (1300 × 1500 mm) AMOLED production line in Ordos, a city in the Gobi desert in China’s Inner Mongolia Province. As part of the deal, the Ordos government will give BOE warrants of at least one billion tons of coal, which is worth approximately CNY10 billion ($1.6 billion) based on current prices. BOE has no coal development expertise, and the company indicated that its initial plan is to transfer part of its shareholding to a third party to develop the coal mine, but the details have not been finalized, and the final agreement has not yet been signed.
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Will Tablets Push HP to Exit PCs?
By Chris Connery – Vice President, PC and Large Format Commercial Displays, DisplaySearch and Paul Semenza – Senior Vice President, Analyst Services, DisplaySearch
HP announced today that it is “exploring strategic alternatives” for its Personal Systems Group and exiting the market for webOS devices, which includes its TouchPad tablet. For years, critics have been agitating for HP to exit the PC business. With the board and executive leadership changes over the past year or so, this criticism died down somewhat. However, with the success of the iPad and failure of the TouchPad, the pressure has intensified again.
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Building More Capacity During Over-Supply?
The TFT LCD market is still going through the painful process of adjusting to over-supply, especially in TV panels. Slow growth in LCD TV sales, resulting from the cloudy economic situation in Europe and the United States, has killed the panel price rebound in Q2’11. Following the downward revisions of TV brands 2011 business plans in June and July, the market has seen panel prices fall in August. Many TV panel buyers are taking the opportunity to negotiate lower prices, and there are many spot deals with panel prices lower than the market average. For panel makers, the over-supply will force further cuts in capacity utilization in Q3’11 to manage inventories. As panel makers reduce prices, financial performance is impacted, leading them to slow down investments in Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
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Sharp + Foxconn: A New Alliance to Compete with the Korean Giants?
According to press reports, on July 15, Sharp executives confirmed that they will establish a joint venture company with Hon Hai (Foxconn). In early May, DisplaySearch analyzed this potential tie-up. The joint venture company will be capitalized by both companies, established in Taiwan, and in charge of the LCD TV panel and component business. Chimei Innolux, part of the Foxconn group, plays an important role in the relationship. The agreement will include the following:
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