Taipei, March 10, 2010 (CENS)--The recent 6.4 magnitude earthquake in southern Taiwan has impacted the global thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) industry, as work stoppage in Taiwan equaled 16.4% of global shipments of large-sized LCD panels in January, according to iSuppli Corp.
The major technology value-chain research and advisory company said that the earthquake stopped production of large-sized LCD panels in the country`s Tainan Science Park, without shutting all production facilities.
The earthquake forced Taiwanese firms Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) and HannStar Display Corp. to temporarily stop manufacturing large-sized LCDs at their Tainan plants. In January, CMO was the world`s fourth-largest producer of large-sized LCD panels, accounting for 13.3% of global unit shipments. HannStar was the seventh-largest producer, with a share of 3.0%.
It`s unclear whether operations at world`s No. 3 (Taiwan`s largest) supplier AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) have been affected by the earthquake. AUO of Taiwan in January accounted for 17.5% of global shipments, iSuppli said.
Sweta Dash, senior director of LCD research at iSuppli, said resuming production is important. After a shutdown, it typically takes 12 to 24 hours before production can be restarted at an LCD manufacturing fab, much longer if equipment is damaged, says Dash.
If the production stoppage continues, global LCD market could face shortage of large-sized panels. The earthquake also has halted Tainan`s production of glass, the main component for making LCD panels.
Avanstrate, a small supplier that accounts for about 5% of global glass supply, operates five glass melting tanks in Tainan, one of which has been damaged according to initial reports. Leading global LCD glass supplier Corning said there is no damage to its Tainan LCD glass operations, all of which has been restarted within hours.
Top-10 Suppliers of
Large-Sized LCD Panels in January (in global unit shipments) |
| Rank | Supplier | Percentage of Unit Shipments |
| 1 | LG Display | 24.8% |
| 2 | Samsung | 22.5% |
| 3 | AUO | 17.5% |
| 4 | CMO | 13.3% |
| 6 | CPT | 3.9% |
| 5 | Innolux | 4.4% |
| 7 | HannStar | 3.0% |
| 8 | Sharp | 3.0% |
| 9 | BOE-OT/Hydis | 2.0% |
| 10 | IVO | 2.8% |
| Others | 2.8% |
| Source: iSuppli Corp. March 2010 |
(by Quincy Liang)
