lcd panel issue made in china

The escalating coronavirus crisis is impacting production at display panel factories located in the semi-quarantined city of Wuhan, China, spurring a significant near-term reduction in the global supply of panels used in liquid crystal display televisions (LCDs) and other products.

The five factories in the city producing liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels will experience near-term slowdowns in production compared to expected levels, according to IHS Markit technology research, now a part of Informa Tech.

With the situation evolving quickly, IHS Markit technology research is still assessing the magnitude of the supply shortfall on multiple display types and markets. However, leading Chinese panel makers stated they believe that total capacity utilization for all LCD fabs in the country could fall by at least 10 percent and perhaps by more than 20 percent during the month of February.

With China expected to own 55 percent of global display manufacturing capacity in 2020, the immediate impact of the production reduction has been a worldwide decrease in availability and an increase in pricing for LCD-TV panels. This has resulted in turmoil throughout the display supply chain as suppliers and purchasers alike scramble to adjust to swiftly changing market conditions.

The leading Chinese suppliers of LCD panels for TVs, notebook PCs and PC monitors now are planning to raise panel prices more aggressively. For example, the price for an open-cell LCD-TV panel was originally expected to rise by $1 or $2 per month in February. However, the actual increase may be $3 to $5 for the month.

Beyond the immediate production impact at these facilities, the coronavirus is also likely to trigger delays in the ramp-up of manufacturing at new display fabs during the first half of 2020. This will reduce overall panel availability during the next few months. It also could result in further panel supply tightness as TV display buyers hasten the pace of their panel purchases to build stockpiles for future shortfalls.

While major panel makers are rightly concerned about the coronavirus’s impact on consumer sales, demand for their products from TV makers has actually increased. TV makers are pulling in their panel demand and sometimes double-booking orders to shore up their inventories. The panel maker indicated that the demand surge for orders delivered in February is as large as 10 percent above the previous demand forecast.

LCD panel makers outsource much of the production of such modules. However, production at several key third-party module suppliers has now ceased, impacting panel production severely throughout the country. Key module supplier SkyTech is sharply reducing production until mid-February.

Panel makers maintain their own captive LCD module factories. However, these operations are also facing production bottlenecks amid the coronavirus crisis.

Panel makers are cutting production by 16 percent on average from this month, Rong Chaoping, senior researcher at market research firm AVC Revo, told Yicai Global. Television panel makers are expected to ship 3.6 million less panels than last month.

Panel makers will reduce capacity by between 15 and 20 percent this month, said Wu Rongbing, chief analyst at Chinese semiconductor intelligence service Omdia.

LCD TV display shipments from China’s five largest panel manufacturers accounted for 68.5 percent of the global market in April, a new high, and they were expected to exceed 70 percent this year, according to Omdia.

The global panel industry is expected to slash production by about 20 percent this year, according to Beijing-based Sigmaintell. It is the first time since 2013 that the worldwide sector has implemented such a large-scale and wide-ranging cut in manufacturing. But it should help to slow the fall in prices, Li said.

“Tumbling prices are squeezing profits,” Li said. “The price of a TV panel is now below cost price and that of some data panels is also below the manufacturing cost.”

“Panel makers are facing rising liquidity pressure and bigger losses as prices are now below cost price, so the display industry is likely to undergo another big reshuffle,” Rong said.

Panel prices are likely to stop dropping this month or next as output falls, Wu said. Whether prices will start to pick up soon depends on when demand improves.

China"s first 8.5-generation TFT-LCD production line was launched in Bengbu, East China"s Anhui province, on June 18, 2019, representing a breakthrough in the production of high-definition LCD screen, Science and Technology Daily reported.

TFT-LCD, or Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display, is key strategic material of the electronic information display industry. The Gen 8.5 TFT-LCD production line, launched by the Bengbu Glass Industry Design and Research Institute of the China National Building Material Group, will produce high-definition LCD screens of 55 inches, the report said.

According to the Liquid Crystal Branch of the China Optics and Optoelectronics Manufactures Association, the demand for TFT-LCD in the Chinese mainland was about 260 million square meters in 2018, including 233 million square meters" Gen 8.5 TFT-LCD. However, the annual supply of domestically made TFT-LCD is less than 40 million square meters, with all of them Gen 6 or below, which cannot meet the demand in scale and quantity.

The association predicted that China"s market demand for Gen 8.5 TFT-LCD or above will exceed 300 million square meters by 2020, accounting for 49.6 percent of the total global demand.

The production and control precision of Gen 8.5 TFT-LCD is comparable to that of the semiconductor industry, representing a higher level of large-scale manufacturing of modern glass industry.

The institute in Bengbu, with 60 years of expertise in glass, has finally made a breakthrough in the production of Gen 8.5 TFT-LCD, and will provide key raw material guarantee for China"s LCD panel industry after it goes into mass production in September, the report said.

Over the years, with the wider and wider application of LCD screens, more and more brand products have been favored by the people. Together, more and more LCD manufacturers have emerged. Of course, the most popular brands in China are BOE, INNOLUX, CHIMEI, AUO, CSOT, etc. So, Which is the best brand of

It is better to say who is more professional than good or bad. In fact, the above mentioned LCD screen manufacturers are very professional, and the quality is guaranteed. But the most popular must be BOE and INNOLUX, these two panel manufacturers are also obvious to all. They all have multiple distributors, but not every distributor has the best size and price.

SZ XIANHENG TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. is the agent of AUO, BOE, INNOLUX, SHARP, IVO and Mitsubishi, and other domestic and foreign well-known brands of small and medium-sized LCD display; specializing in customized production of touch screen display, LCD and industrial touch display and other high-tech products. According to the needs of customers, we can provide various LCD products: high-brightness LCD screen, LCD driver board, touch screen, booster board, all kinds of LCD special wires, etc. to produce industrial displays.

What brand of LCD screen is good? If you choose BOE, INNOLUX, CHIMEI, AUO or CSOT, you can buy them from us. 18.5 inch LCD screen, 21.5 inch LCD screen and other small and medium size, our price is the lowest in the industry.

Flat-panel displays are thin panels of glass or plastic used for electronically displaying text, images, or video. Liquid crystal displays (LCD), OLED (organic light emitting diode) and microLED displays are not quite the same; since LCD uses a liquid crystal that reacts to an electric current blocking light or allowing it to pass through the panel, whereas OLED/microLED displays consist of electroluminescent organic/inorganic materials that generate light when a current is passed through the material. LCD, OLED and microLED displays are driven using LTPS, IGZO, LTPO, and A-Si TFT transistor technologies as their backplane using ITO to supply current to the transistors and in turn to the liquid crystal or electroluminescent material. Segment and passive OLED and LCD displays do not use a backplane but use indium tin oxide (ITO), a transparent conductive material, to pass current to the electroluminescent material or liquid crystal. In LCDs, there is an even layer of liquid crystal throughout the panel whereas an OLED display has the electroluminescent material only where it is meant to light up. OLEDs, LCDs and microLEDs can be made flexible and transparent, but LCDs require a backlight because they cannot emit light on their own like OLEDs and microLEDs.

Liquid-crystal display (or LCD) is a thin, flat panel used for electronically displaying information such as text, images, and moving pictures. They are usually made of glass but they can also be made out of plastic. Some manufacturers make transparent LCD panels and special sequential color segment LCDs that have higher than usual refresh rates and an RGB backlight. The backlight is synchronized with the display so that the colors will show up as needed. The list of LCD manufacturers:

Organic light emitting diode (or OLED displays) is a thin, flat panel made of glass or plastic used for electronically displaying information such as text, images, and moving pictures. OLED panels can also take the shape of a light panel, where red, green and blue light emitting materials are stacked to create a white light panel. OLED displays can also be made transparent and/or flexible and these transparent panels are available on the market and are widely used in smartphones with under-display optical fingerprint sensors. LCD and OLED displays are available in different shapes, the most prominent of which is a circular display, which is used in smartwatches. The list of OLED display manufacturers:

MicroLED displays is an emerging flat-panel display technology consisting of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. Like OLED, microLED offers infinite contrast ratio, but unlike OLED, microLED is immune to screen burn-in, and consumes less power while having higher light output, as it uses LEDs instead of organic electroluminescent materials, The list of MicroLED display manufacturers:

LCDs are made in a glass substrate. For OLED, the substrate can also be plastic. The size of the substrates are specified in generations, with each generation using a larger substrate. For example, a 4th generation substrate is larger in size than a 3rd generation substrate. A larger substrate allows for more panels to be cut from a single substrate, or for larger panels to be made, akin to increasing wafer sizes in the semiconductor industry.

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According to recent reports, LCD display manufacturing has now been taken over by Chinese manufacturers. Display makers like LG, Samsung, and others are now leaving the LCD display market for Chinese brands. These companies are now focusing on the OLED market. However, cheap smartphones will still make use of LCD displays. This means that more companies will now rely on these Chinese brands. According to a recent report, BOE may develop panels for Samsung’s entry-level models. These models will include the Samsung Galaxy A13, Galaxy A23, and other models.

There is news that BOE is only developing panels for Samsung’s entry-level models. However, according to relevant industry sources, at the end of March, Samsung had proposed to BOE to supply the next-generation flagship smartphone panel. According to reports, both companies are currently discussing technical verification and contract signing. If this is true and goes well, perhaps we will see the appearance of Chinese screens on future Samsung flagship phones.

Samsung originally planned to stop the production of LCD panels by the end of 2020. However, the LCD panel market started to increase prices in the past year or so. This made Samsung’s LCD factory continue to operate for another two years. However, the company originally plans to exit the market at the end of 2022. Nevertheless, the LCD panel market has changed since the end of last year. The price has been falling significantly and it is now on a free fall. By January this year, the average price of a 32 -inch panel was only $ 38, a 64% drop relative to January last year.

LG Display and Samsung Display are struggling to find their ways out of the deterioration of their performance even after withdrawing from production of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. The high-priced organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel sector regarded as a future growth engine is not growing fast due to the economic downturn. Even in the OLED panel sector, Chinese display makers are within striking distance of Korean display makers, experts say.

On Aug. 30, Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), a market research company, predicted that LCD TV panel prices hit an all-time low in August and that an L-shaped recession will continue in the fourth quarter. According to DSCC, the average price of a 65-inch ultra-high-definition (UHD) panel in August was only US$109, a 62 percent drop from the highest price of US$288 recorded in July in 2021. The average price of a 75-inch UHD panel was only US$218, which was only about half of the highest price of US$410 in July last year. DSCC predicted that the average panel price in the third quarter will fall by 15.7 percent. As Chinese companies’ price war and the effect of stagnation in consumption overlapped, the more LCD panels display makers produce, the more loss they suffer.

As panel prices fell, manufacturers responded by lowering facility utilization rates. DSCC said that the LCD factory utilization rate descended from 87 percent in April to 83 percent in May, 73 percent in June, and 70 percent in July.

Now that the LCD panel business has become no longer lucrative, Korean display makers have shut down their LCD business or shrunk their sizes. In the LCD sector, China has outpaced Korea since 2018. China’s LCD market share reached 50.9 percent in 2021, while that of Korea dropped to 14.4 percent, lower than Taiwan’s 31.6 percent.

Samsung Display already announced its withdrawal from the LCD business in June. Only 10 years have passed since the company was spun off from Samsung Electronics in 2012. LG Display has decided to halt domestic LCD TV panel production until 2023 and reorganize its business structure centering on OLED panels. Its Chinese LCD production line will be gradually converted to produce LCD panels for IT or commercial products. TrendForce predicted that LG Display will stop operating its P7 Plant in the first quarter of next year.

Korean display makers’ waning LCD business led to a situation in which Korea even lost first place in the display industry. Korea with a display market share of 33.2 percent was already overtaken by China with 41.5 percent) in 2021 according to market researcher Omdia and the Korea Display Industry Association. Korea’s market share has never rebounded in for five years since 2017 amid the Korean government’s neglect. Seventeen years have passed since 2004 when Korea overtook Japan to rise to the top of the world in the LCD industry. Korea’s LCD exports amounted to more than US$30 billion in 2014, but fell to US$21.4 billion last year.

A bigger problem is that Korean display makers may lose its leadership in the OLED panel sector although it is still standing at the top spot. While Korea’s OLED market share fell from 98.1 percent in 2016 to 82.8 percent last year, that of China rose from 1.1 percent to 16.6 percent. Considering that the high-end TV market is highly likely to shrink for the time being due to a full-fledged global consumption contraction, some analysts say that the technology gap between Korea and China can be sharply narrowed through this looming TV market slump. According to industry sources, the Chinese government is now focusing on giving subsidies to the development of OLED panel technology rather LCD technology. On the other hand, in Korea, displays were also wiped out from national strategic technology industry items under the Restriction of Special Taxation Act which can receive tax benefits for R&D activities on displays.

SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- China"s sweeping COVID-19 lockdowns are sending a shockwave in the display panel industry by exacerbating supply chain woes and parts procurement problems.

In April, global shipments of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels fell 15 percent from a year earlier amid the prolonged lockdowns in China, according to industry tracker Omdia.

China"s lockdowns have dealt a serious blow to the production of set products, which in turn is sending a ripple effect throughout the supply chain of parts, including display panels.

The company reported dismal first-quarter earnings last month, with its net income dropping nearly 80 percent from a year ago, on lower demand for IT products, falling TV panel prices and parts procurement difficulties.

Demand for LCD panels has been waning, as most countries have lifted pandemic restrictions and people spend less time at home and on personal IT devices. Enterprise demand has also been slower than expected, the company said, due to the hostile macro environment.

LG Display could "swing to loss in the second quarter for the first time in eight quarters, as LCD panel prices have continued to fall and sales of IT panels, the company"s core product line, fell more than 10 percent due to China"s COVID-19 situation," analyst Kwon Sung-ryul from DB Financial Investment wrote in his latest report.

It appears too soon to say that Samsung Display and LG Display, the nation’s top display makers, will exit from the less lucrative LCD market amid a cutthroat competition with Chinese rivals with cheaper pricing.

Until a few years ago, the two firms had hinted at retiring from the old-school LCD business to focus on more advanced technologies such as upgraded LCDs or OLEDs to widen the gap with Chinese runner-ups.

But experts here say there has been a sign of change in the attitudes more recently, pointing out that their full shutdown of LCD operations ultimately would hinge on elevating profitability of their high-end push.

In 2020 alone, Samsung Display posted a deficit of more than 1 trillion won ($841.5 million) in its LCD business. But it has no other option but to continue production to meet the demand from its parent Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest TV maker.

The firm last year sold its LCD production facility in China to its Chinese rival TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology, a key supplier to Samsung TVs. But the LCD line in Suzhou, China recently cut its panel supply almost in half, with Samsung’s display unit highly likely to be tasked with filling the void.

“(Samsung Electronics) have few choices but to contract with Samsung Display to make up for its LCD TV set capacity,” said Yi Choong-hoon, chief analyst at UBI Research.

This put Samsung Display‘s full exit plan in disarray. After the sell-off of the Chinese facility, the firm is also scaling down its LCD plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, to convert part of the facilities to its quantum-dot OLED lines to supply to set makers including Japanese firm Sony.

LG Display’s LCD business -- with production lines in Paju, Gyeonggi Province and Guangzhou, China -- is poised to generate 2.5 trillion won in operating profit for 2021, up fourfold from the previous year, according to Kim Jung-hwan, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, on Thursday.

This comes in sharp contrast with OLED TV earnings estimate. According to Kim, LG Display‘s OLED TV operations will post 152 billion won in operating loss, as its fourth-quarter forecast to generate 62 billion won income was dwarfed by 214 billion won losses for the previous three quarters. Since inception, LG’s OLED panel business has been in the red due to heavy spending.

Now, the question is whether the company is ready to be fully dedicated to next-generational OLED panels for premium TVs featuring self-lit pixels. Yi of UBI Research says it is too premature.

“A bigger penetration of OLED TVs to consumers is a prerequisitie for a conversion of (LG Display’s) existing LCD TV lines to OLED TV lines,” he said.

Analysts also said LG Display has already streamlined its LCD TV lines under a series of restructuring of LCD TV lines, including a conversion to lines for IT devices including mobile phones.

“(LG Display‘s) LCD TV fabs with low profit margin have completed a retreat in the first half of 2021,” said Kim Sun-woo of Meritz Securities. “LG is now capable of maintaining LCD capacity with a decent profit margin.”

This comes against the backdrop of industry projections that LCD TV panel prices continue to fall steadily over the course of the first quarter, and Chinese rivals are forecast to ramp up dominance in LCD market,

According to US-based market intelligence firm Display Supply Chain Consultants, Chinese firms’ LCD market share on a capacity basis are forecast to rise to 71 percent by 2025, from 53 percent in 2020, far outpacing Korea, Japan and Taiwan, as of June 2020.

Another estimate, released earlier this week, showed the price for LCD TV panels regardless of size -- ranging from 32- to 65-inch -- is projected to fall until March, giving up almost entire gains from July 2020 to July 2021 that is partly attributable to announced exits of Korean LCD panel makers.

The quarter-on-quarter price declines in the first quarter of 2022 to range between 10 percent and 23 percent and average 15 percent, with mid-sized panels taking the largest dip.

“Although the declines are slowing down in the first quarter, they are still severe for panel makers,” noted Robert O‘Brien, co-founder and principal analyst at DSCC.