Countries all over the world are avoiding public contact by telecommuting and attending classes remotely, which has led to a dramatic increase in the demand for laptops and tablets.
In the second quarter, material shortage worsen and the material cost increasing, made the big size panel price increase sharply. The home economy drive the demand of the television and IT panels, and the tightness situation of supply chain is constantly increasing but no decreasing. As a whole, during the first quarter, the monitors panel price increased around 8~15%, laptop panel around 10~18%, and even the television increased around 12~20%. All in all, the panel prices are increased double since last year.
Besides, Asahi Glass Co. Ltd restored the factory, but the production may not take place until the third quarter. As it’s the biggest supplier of Generation 6 glass substrates, the IT panel production was impacted heavily.
Meanwhile, Corning recently announced the price increasing due to higher material cost, which makes the panel price increasing accordingly, and expected that the prices would be continued to rise in April and May.
On the laptop side, Chromebooks continue to be in short supply, with HD TN panels up $1.50 to $2 and IPS panels up $1.50. Panel price increases also boosted the first quarter of the panel factory profits, the second quarter price increases unchanged, the price of a quarter is still up to 10 to 20 percent increase, so the panel factory is expected to challenge a new record in quarterly profits.
Industry sources said customers are actively replenishing inventories of LCD screens for the retail market of televisions and other equipment, but this has exacerbated the shortage of display driver chips and glass substrates, affecting actual shipments of LCD screens of different sizes and ultimately leading to continued price increases, the report said.
Since Samsung Display terminated the supply of LCD panels by the end of the first quarter of 2021, the overall supply of TV and notebook panels will become increasingly tight in the years to come due to the pressure from demand.
Post time: Apr-19-2021