Taiwan’s LCD panel makers are facing a bumpy road in developing next-generation technology as chances are fading that the government will support the costly development, a TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) analyst said yesterday.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs last month said that it was considering injecting as much as NT$10 billion (US$318.5 million) to help firms develop flexible active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) technology and to form a “national team” to build a supply chain to collectively support the development of the technology.
However, the government has been stuck in limbo since then, with no funding plan or development blueprint on the horizon.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times.
“We do not have high hopes that the government will support the development,” TrendForce analyst Iris Hu (胡家榕) told the Taipei Times by telephone. “It is just a verbal commitment.”
In contrast to the inertia of Taiwan’s government’s, the Chinese and South Korean governments are aggressively assisting their LCD panel manufacturers foray into AMOLED technology as the investments will be several times higher than building an LCD production line, Hu said.
“For local LCD panel suppliers, which just emerged from chronic losses, the government’s funding will be critical,” Hu said. “Without the government bankrolling the project, things could become really difficult.”
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, last month highlighted the need for government support, as it would cost a company more than NT$10 billion to develop AMOLED technology.
“Not a single company from Taiwan can afford it on its own,” AUO chairman Paul Peng (彭双浪) said at the time.
The Hsinchu-based company told investors in July that it would stop wasting money on the development of large OLED panels and focus instead on producing smaller OLED panels used in wearable and virtual reality devices.
Innolux Corp (群創), in which Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has a major stake, recently said that it planned to develop flexible AMOLED technology, but it did not provide concrete details.
Analysts said it all depended on what resources Innolux could obtain after the tie-up of Hon Hai and Sharp Corp.
Sharp is developing OLED technology and is making better progress, they said.
“Taiwanese are losing ground in OLED to [South] Korean vendors,” CIMB Securities Ltd said in a report released earlier this month.
Most key equipment, critical material and production tools were fully booked by South Korean and Chinese firms for delivery over the next 18 months to 24 months, CIMB said, citing its recent surveys with OLED supply-chain firms.
Investors who expected Innolux to leverage Sharp’s IGZO technology for producing OLED mobile displays would be disappointed as the technology is suitable for producing OLED TV panels, but was unlikely to be commercialized within the next two years, CIMB said.
The brokerage said it was concerned about Taiwan’s LCD sector as the recent price uptrend is supported by seasonal demand, with the strength of price hikes appearing to diminish.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS