Category Archives: TVs

Samsung and Sony Close the S-LCD Joint Venture: What Next?

Posted by David Hsieh in DisplaySearch, Display Technology, TVs on December 27, 2011 | 1 comment

By David Hsieh – Vice President, Greater China Market, YS Chung – Director, Large-Area Displays & FPD Materials and Deborah Yang - Research Director Monitor & TV, DisplaySearch

On December 26, Sony announced the end of S-LCD, their joint venture with Samsung, which entails Gen 7 and 8 TFT LCD fabs. The joint venture, which started in 2004 and was strengthened through agreements and investments in 2006, 2007 and 2008, was owned 50% (+1 share) by Samsung and 50% (-1 share) by Sony, and was the largest joint venture in TFT LCD industry. Continue Reading

Will Panel Prices Increase in Q1’12?

Posted by David Hsieh in DisplaySearch, Mobile PCs, TVs on December 23, 2011 | No comments

After falling every month since June, panel prices have finally stabilized. Notebook PC panel prices have been flat since October, TV panel prices have been flat since November, and monitor panel prices have stopped falling this month.
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Half of All LCD TV Panels Likely to be “Cell” in 2012

Posted by David Hsieh in DisplaySearch, TVs on December 22, 2011 | No comments

By David Hsieh – Vice President, Greater China Market and Deborah Yang - Research Director Monitor & TV, DisplaySearch

As the downstream LCD TV OEM and branded TV manufacturers are becoming more integrated by establishing backlight and module assembly lines close to their TV set production sites, the integration of the LCD TV panel and LCD TV set assembly has been evolving rapidly in the past years. LCD TV set makers have adopted the so-called backlight-module-system (BMS) assembly model, which has the final assembly of the LCD module along with the set assembly. In the traditional model, set makers purchase LCD modules as finished components that are ready for assembly. In the BMS model, set makers purchase LCD “cells” (the LCD panel without backlight unit or driver IC with PCB) or “open cells,” which are panels with the driver IC and PCB, but without the backlight unit (so called because they look like a panel with open wings).
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China 5% Import Duty: a Compromise or a Driver?

Posted by David Hsieh in DisplaySearch, Materials, TVs on December 1, 2011 | 2 comments

As we have discussed, the Chinese government has been considering increasing LCD panel import duties to help its local panel manufacturers. Currently, import duties on LCD modules are 5%, and 3% for the cell and open cell (cell with driver ICs and PCB attached). Speculation that the Chinese government may double tariffs has been a source of concern for Korean and Taiwanese panel suppliers who are importing LCD TV cells and modules to China.
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Black Friday Update #2; A Tale of Two Customers

Posted by Paul Gagnon in DisplaySearch, TVs on November 25, 2011 | 6 comments

What a difference a few hours makes …

During the first round of store visits to observe the midnight opening of several retail stores (for electronics at least), the activity was intense. There were long lines and strong buying activity for TVs, notebook PCs, smartphones and tablet PCs. Continue Reading