TrendForce Corp., a global market intelligence firm, announced today (January 22) that it has become the majority shareholder of Topology Research Institute, with all the controlling stakeholder’s operating rights entailed. Kevin Lin, the CEO of TrendForce, will also hold the title of Chairman of Topology. Topology’s operations, brand, and managing staff will be under the same business model after the merger.
The panel price for each panel application has been constant for January 2015, akin to last month’s market environment, according to the newest price report by WitsView, a research division of TrendForce. The prices for IT panels are weak relative to prices for TV panels, which temporarily remain constant.
WitsView, a research division of TrendForce, reports that BOE and CSOT led the pack in shipments for large-size LCD panels for Dec. 2014, with each having about 5% increase compared to last month’s performance. Winnie Chen, Assistant Research for WitsView, stated that BOE has been very proactive in developing its IT market since 2014.
In 2015, Samsung and LG, the two major Korean brands, may surpass 40% global market share, squeezing the market shares of Chinese and Japanese TV brands, according to a recent announcement from WitsView, a research division of TrendForce. Even though Korean brands are leading ahead of the pack in the global LCD TV market, a newly released “2014 China TV Brand Power Research Report” from AVANTI, a Chinese consumer research division of TrendForce, indicates that within the China market, Changhong, TCL and Hisense still possess an absolute geographical advantage in terms of brand image and visibility.
Few panel applications have been free from the consumer electronic markets cooler season effects, with notebook panels early price drop reflecting the seasonal transition. Another major IT application monitor panels prices also slid, due to off-peak season effects.