LCD panel maker Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said it is bullish about panel demand over next 12 months as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drive demand for notebook computers, tablets and TVs.
The Miaoli County-based company said that the pandemic has boosted demand for electronic devices as workers and students increasingly work and study remotely, leading to strong revenue growth and portending a profitable quarter for the panel maker.
Innolux has posted losses for the past seven quarters.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
“Our competitors have said that strong orders will extend through December, and even to the first quarter of next year, but we are confident to say that our business outlook is even better than that,” company chairman Jim Hung (洪進揚) told a media briefing in Taipei.
“We believe that the stay-at-home economy will drive a sustainable growth, even during the post-pandemic era,” Hung said. “We are bullish about our business outlook. For the whole of next year, demand will not be a problem.”
Laptops, tablets, TVs and other devices benefit from this wave of demand, Hung said.
As a result, the industry is in a healthy condition due to balanced demand and supply for LCD panels as Samsung Electronics Co phases out panel production, he said.
The prices of 55-inch TV panels jumped 6.9 percent per unit this month from the prior month due to tight supply, while panels for notebook computers climbed 3.2 percent, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) data released on Tuesday showed.
This quarter, prices of large flat panels would surge 10 percent from the previous quarter, TrendForce said, adding that supply crunch of driver integrated circuits used in displays and chips poses a problem for shipments of certain panels.
Innolux would try to satisfy demand primarily for panels used in information technology applications, Innolux vice president James Yang (楊柱祥) said.
Innolux yesterday unveiled its first flat-panel satellite antenna in collaboration with Kymeta Corp, which has received funds from Microsoft Corp founder Bill Gates and other investors.
Innolux said it has assumed shipments to US customers of the antennas, which can be installed on aircraft, vehicles or boats to access the Internet through a satellite connection.
The new product is crucial for Innolux, allowing it to rejuvenate older and less advanced fabs to produce new products, said Ting Chin-lung (丁景隆), head of Innolux’s technology development center.
The company expects large-scale adoption of its antennas within the next five years.
Innolux said that demand would increase gradually after Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), founded by Tesla Inc chief executive Elon Musk, by the end of this year assumes providing Internet connectivity services through the company’s low Earth orbit satellites.
Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc are also building their own low Earth satellite networks, indicating a significant growth potential for the technology, Ting said.
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