September 14, 2006
As expected LCD market continues to be active as we move onto the second half of September. In the face of increasing demand expect to see factories continue to drive prices upward to push their selling price past production cost. Although no figure has been confirmed we are expecting to see a $5 to $10 increase across the board in October. The price increases are being driven by a healthy LCD TV market that that allows factories to shift production from monitor and notebook panels to TV panels, with 20” and 26” TV panels being the volume leaders.
Monitor
Monitor panels remain in shortage, which has not changed since late July, with the most allocated sizes being the 15” and 17”. We have seen acute shortages in the 17” sizes with very limited availabilities in recent weeks. As a result of the shortage, the price gap between B grade and A grade panels has been closing as OEMs have become more flexible in their purchasing decisions. Expect to see the prices increase until selling prices eclipse production costs.
Notebook
Notebook panels are also being impacted by the shift of capacity to support LCD TV demand. We are seeing the market transition from 4:3 screens to the 16:9 wide screens, which are in higher demand than ever. Some non-RoHS panels are in exceptional high demand despite their high prices, such as LP157E1-C2 and LP157E1-A2, among others. There will be continued demand for these panels to support service demand. With little available product we expect pricing to increase daily.
Industrial
Despite demand for industrial panels remaining stable we are seeing prices increases with the overall market trend. Demand for industrial panels generally remains firm for a number of years after has gone end of life. Two prime examples are the LM12S49, a dual CCFL DSTN model and the LQ121S1DG31. We have seen robust demand for these two panels across a variety of industrial companies. To date there has been ample supply, allowing pricing to stay fairly linear.
