IHS has said that LCD panel makers are at risk of incurring ‘deep losses’ this year, as Chinese makers ‘aggravate already severe oversupply’. The comments were made at a display conference in Asia.
The global supply of LCD panels will rise 6% YoY in 2016, doubling the 3% growth in demand. This will mostly be down to supply from China’s BOE and CSOT, IHS predicted. China’s global LCD panel market share is expected to rise from 19.5% in 2015 to 23.7% in 2016. Most of this gain will be ‘stolen’ from Taiwan, which will see its share fall from 34.6% to 32.9%.
“We only see a brief rebound in panel prices in the second quarter and third quarter, primarily due to stock-building demand from major TV brands including Samsung Electronics Co and Chinese TV vendors,” said IHS’ David Hsieh. Such demand would be short-term, and not enough to end the supply glut. He added, “Most panel companies will remain in the red throughout the whole year.”