2008-2009 TFT LCD Production Will Be Enabled By Plentiful Supply Of ...

Tag : Panel Glass

DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in display market research andconsulting, revealed in its recent release of the Quarterly LCDGlass Substrate Report that there appears to be no constraint onTFT LCD panel production for PC and TV applications this year ornext. 20 tanks of TFT LCD glass substrate capacity will comeon-line in 2008. TFT LCD panel makers will increase theirprocess-area capacity about 25% this year, while their glasssuppliers will increase gross substrate area capacity about 32%.Not all of the glass tank capacity will be used fully in 2008.Enough glass capacity was used to increase the substrate areashipped 55% from Q1'07 to Q1'08, however.

Corning and its Samsung Corning Precision Glass joint ventureremained the leading TFT LCD substrate supplier in Q1'08 with a53.1% area share. Japan-based Asahi Glass and Nippon Electric Glassfollowed with area shares of 23.7% and 18.4%, respectively. Thesesuppliers have benefitted from the resurgence of TFT LCD activityin Japan, but the report forecasts their area shares will peak thisyear and fall slightly in 2009. A special-purpose vehicle ofCarlyle Group took control of a third Japan-based glass supplierrecently. The former NH Techno Glass business had tanks in Japanand Singapore that had a 4.9% area share in Q108. DisplaySearchexpects these tanks will remain in operation as Carlylerestructures the business. A fifth supplier, SCHOTT of Germany,exited the market in Q1'08

The price forecast for TFT LCD substrates by area shows a modestrate of sequential decline this year. The area price of Gen 8substrates (2850 mm