Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony Corp aims to recoup its top position in Taiwan's rapidly-growing television market this year by launching more and bigger-sized liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TVs, a company official said yesterday.
The Japanese TV brand regained the leading position in the mainstream 32-inch size segment in Taiwan in December last year, with the help of its lower-priced "Bravia" sub-brand last year.
"The Bravia series is very successful. We have been trying to catch up with consumer demand since we launched the brand," said Hiroyuki Oda, president of Sony's consumer electronics division in Taiwan.
"We hope the growth momentum will carry into this year," Oda said. "We hope to take the number one position this year," he said.
Oda also said Sony aims for double-digit growth in sales for his division this year from last year.
However, he declined to give detailed numbers.
Sony lost its top position in the nation's LCD TV market to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, which sell consumer electronics products under the Panasonic brand, in 2004 and 2003.
But the company was on target last quarter globally, nabbing around a 15 percent share of the market.
Sony overtook Sharp Corp to become the world's biggest LCD TV brand due to the successful launch of the Bravia series and optimized panel capacity through S-LCD Corp, its TFT-LCD joint venture with Samsung, according to a DisplaySearch report released yesterday
Sony's progress was also helped by strong demand for large-sized LCD TVs, fueled by an almost 50 percent drop in prices year-on-year, the market researcher said.
In the third quarter of last year, Sony was ranked No.4 with a market share of less than 9 percent, it added.
DisplaySearch expects sales of LCD TVs to more then double to 42 million units around the globe this year, from 19 million last year.
"We believe the growth will also be rapid in Taiwan," Oda said.
Oda said LCD TV sales are expected to reach as high as 500,000 units this year, from around 300,000 units last year, with LCD TV sales accounting for 50 percent of total TV sales.
"The trend is clear that LCD TVs are taking over from traditional CRT [cathode-ray-tube] TVs," Oda said.
He said more consumers will now consider buying the slim-screen TVs as prices are stabilizing after plunging in the second half of last year.
Based on the optimistic outlook, Sony plans to introduce more models with large-sized screens in the Taiwanese market, Oda said.
He declined to comment on whether Sony would increase its purchases of LCD panels from local manufacturers -- including AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) -- this year amid supply constraints at S-LCD.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
REACTIONS: While most analysts were positive about TSMC’s investment, one said the US expansion could disrupt the company’s supply-demand balance Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) new US$100 billion investment in the US would exert a positive effect on the chipmaker’s revenue in the medium term on the back of booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from US chip designers, an International Data Corp (IDC) analyst said yesterday. “This is good for TSMC in terms of business expansion, as its major clients for advanced chips are US chip designers,” IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) said by telephone yesterday. “Besides, those US companies all consider supply chain resilience a business imperative,” Zeng said. That meant local supply would
RSS