According to WitsView, a research division of TrendForce, large-sized panel shipments slipped by 0.6% to 53.01 million units; of which, TV panel shipments posted the largest decline by 9.6%, which mostly attributed to the finish of the inventory replenishment for China National Day holiday in October.

On the contrary, tablet panel shipments posted the most substantial growth. The increase of the sales regions of iPad spurred 9.7-inch panel demand whose shipments rose by more than 30% MoM to 2.8 million units. Since more and more brands jump into tablet PC market, tablet panel shipment is estimated to rise as well. 12-inch and above notebook panel shipments continued the downturn, falling by 2.3% MoM, while 12.1-inch notebook panel shipments surged by 10% MoM. WitsView pointed out that even though netbook sales is cannibalized by tablet PCs, second- and third-tier as well as non-brand vendors devoted more of their business into tablet PC market aggressively, and selected mainstream 10.1-inch panels at the early stage, which further increased 12.1-inch below netbook shipments.   

 

In the wake of the shipment fall for three successive months, monitor panel shipments grew by 5.4% MoM in October. WitsView indicated that the price quote of commercial 17-inch and 19-inch panel as well as the entry-level 18.5-inch panel was likely to hit the bottom and rebound recently, which motivated panel makers to increase the shipments in the panels of these sizes.

 

The utilization rate among Taiwan panel makers begins to rise significantly recently, especially at 6G and 7.5G. Since the end-market demand remains unclear, it reflects panel makers’ high expectation toward TV panel demand for the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday. The demand for that period cannot be overlooked. In an objective point of view, the market share of international brands is close to 50% in China market. Therefore, with the growing influence of Chinese New Year, China domestic brands are no longer the only ones benefitting from the increasing demand. The international brands and their supply chain benefit greatly from it as well. However, WitsView pointed out again that the inventory problem needs to be taken seriously. At current stage, even though the inventory level went down, a certain gap remained to the healthy inventory level. If we take an overly positive attitude toward the forthcoming condition, the panel shipments may surge in the upcoming months, which will possibly shatter the supply and demand in the market in 2011.