lcd panel shortage in stock

We wanted to give you a quick update on the global component shortage that is affecting displays and other products in this rapidly changing scenario and the issues we are all facing.

CDS is working very closely with our manufacturing partners and factories, who are putting in a huge amount of effort to try to secure TFT panels, interface boards, touchscreens, panel PC and the driver ICs needed for all those products to keep shipping schedules on time and reduce any delays that may become evident. Now there are constant negotiations and bartering to get the best allocation of product that we possibly can, and our factories are doing their best to secure all the stock they and we require.

Global monitor panel shipments declined in the first quarter of the year, a report showed on Wednesday, mainly due to Samsung Displays exit from the monitor LCD display manufacturing business and a shortage of semiconductors.

The worldwide monitor panel shipments fell 8.6 percent on-quarter to 39.9 million units in the January-March period, according to the latest report from market researcher TrendForce.

"TrendForce indicates that SDC will exit the monitor LCD panel manufacturing business after it reaches its shipment target of 1.2 million panels in 1H21," it said. "This figure represents a staggering 93.8 percent decline compared to the 19.3 million units of LCD panels that SDC shipped throughout last year."

Samsung Display, the world"s top mobile display panel maker, has been focusing on its migration to next-generation quantum-dot (QD) displays, while withdrawing from the LCD business, reports Yonhap news agency.

But for large LCD panels for TVs, the company recently said it is mulling extending its manufacturing for one more year due to soaring demand from TV makers and rising panel prices.

TrendForce said the global monitor panel market also suffered a setback in the first quarter due to a shortage of components, such as integrated circuits and timing controllers.

"In addition, since TV and notebook (laptop) panels have higher profit margins compared to monitor panels, panel suppliers generally allocate less of their production capacities for manufacturing monitor panels relative to other products," it said.

"TrendForce believes that panel suppliers will likely in turn allocate more production capacities to clients in the monitor segment in 4Q21," it said.

"More specifically, the current shortage of components in the upstream supply chain, which has been exerting significant downward pressure on monitor panel shipments, will be gradually alleviated in 2H21."

The lockdowns brought on by this crisis had caused many manufacturers to temporarily shut down. With the increasing amount of products incorporating LCDs and many productions lines down, it has become more difficult to meet

A shortage of large LCDs, which has lasted for almost a year, and which has resulted in the biggest panel price increases in the history of the industry, has begun to turn into an oversupply, according to research by consulting firm DSCC.

The shortage was driven by strong demand for TVs in the US during the Covid-19 pandemic, but increasing vaccination rates and higher inventory levels have led to a weakening in this market.

While every country has been affected by the pandemic and demand for LCD panels in IT applications remains high, the surge in demand for big TVs at premium prices in the US has had the biggest impact on LCD panel prices, feeding healthy profit margins at all major TV brands. But the surge of demand that started in Q2, 2020 is now slowing, as US consumers begin to spend more on travel and other activities that were restricted during lockdown.

DSCC expects the panel price for LCD TVs to begin to fall during the second half of 2021, but tight supply for various components such as driver ICs and glass substrates will continue for the time being.

The start of a new year is normally a busy time for computer manufacturers and technology companies, and 2021 has proven no different. What has proven different this year is the availability of some crucial supplies. with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, people have made a major shift to working at home. This shift has had a severe impact on computer and component manufacturers worldwide. The workforce has spent much of the past year buying new LCD monitors and laptops while investing in various work-from-home solutions to make it a little easier to keep things running even when they can’t make it to the office.

Outside of business concerns, the demand for leisure devices has also increased. People who cannot go out and socialize are instead purchasing gaming systems, PCs, and TVs, while parents are buying their children tablets and notebooks as entertainment. The pandemic has created an increase in demand and industry-wide shortages of both display panels and power management IC components, including phones. The shortage isn’t just due to the pandemic, of course. Many component manufacturers were already seeing an increase in demand generated by the rollout of 5G technology and the release of two new major game consoles. That the pandemic just happened to hit during a time of significant technological change simply increased existing demand that much more. This sudden demand for all of the components parts in display screens, computers, and TVs brought about a unique situation. Not only is it unnecessary for component manufacturers to market to clients this year, but many are also having to actively turn business away or schedule it for months down the line.

For manufacturers higher up in the supply chain, this is good news. TSMC’s share prices have risen by 50% in 2020 alone; United Microtechnology’s value has more than doubled. While they are working on expanding their capacity, the current demand for new devices and their associated components is likely to continueexceeding supplyfor the rest of the calendar year.However, for people and businesses that need these delayed devices, the shortage is moreserious.

Component and computer shortages affect many more parties than simply the manufacturers. Consumers and businesses at the end of the supply chain see effects as well when it is so difficult to get new machines produced. The problem is that none of these components are used in isolation. The microchips, LCD components, touchscreen elements, and even glass for screens are all utilized in a wide variety of technology, including things that your business may use. Indeed, as demand for phones increases, it becomes harder to source chips for all devices. The result is that it’s simply harder and more expensive to get any type of computing technology. From phones to laptops to desktops, the chip shortage makes it more challenging to find the technology you may need.

IT products like desktop PCs are slightly less impacted by the current shortages than many other products. In general, people who made the switch to working from home have been more likely to purchase a laptop instead of a desktop. Even so, desktop machines are still being affected by shortages and long wait times. In addition, the increased demand for gaming PCs is keeping

When this pressure is combined with the need for functional work laptops, it entails that mobile devices and LCD panels may be facing delivery times as long as three months. It is possible to obtain devices on a shorter timeline, but at present, it appears that end-users like businesses will pay the price. Early estimates suggest that PC prices might rise by as much as 30% in 2021 to account for the shortages. When all these delays and shortages are combined, it spells a clear message: this is not the time to upgrade your hardware. Instead, focus on improving and securing the hardware you already have.

However, you won’t be pleased that the shortage will increase, and it will likely persist until the following year due to some developments that have affected manufacturing.

The actual quantity of the damaged goods and products was not specified, but you’d be impressed to know that AUO’s facility in Taiwan produces millions of panels. It made more than 10 million large modules for TVs and a little less than 9.5 million small to medium screens meant for monitors last month. An hour of stoppage means that several thousand will get delayed, but that doesn’t count the number of broken panels that are already fragile or sensitive, to begin with.

Foundries for other parts such as memory modules or processors aren’t as affected even if they suspended operations as well. TrendForce reported that they were indeed halted by the earthquake, but the damage to their equipment and product was limited since they aren’t as fragile as LCD panels.

It also doesn’t get any better at this point since existing shortages for boards and ICs have already affected supply and pricing. Factor in the effect of the pandemic, and you will get a level of uncertainty for manufacturing and sales in 2021. These two massive disruptions seem like they will make the shortage we are experiencing now worse, so we have no choice but to recommend grabbing what you can as soon as possible.

Half of the ill effects we mentioned are speculation at this point, and even the CEO of AU Optronics has not yet commented regarding the effects on pricing. However, basic economics will dictate that a large-scale shortage like this will lead to price hikes, especially at a time where demand and the growth of the display and monitor market are steadily expanding.

The outlook for your ability to get the 2021 model TV you might have your eyes on, and the price you might have to pay for it isn’t good right now, following reports of component shortages limiting production yields this year.

According to reports out of Asia, widespread component supply shortages could impact availability on LCD TV panels from TCL owned panel maker China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSoT) and Innolux, two of the world’s largest LCD panel suppliers.

The display panel manufacturers were reported by Korean electronics business news site The Elec on Mondayas warning that supplies of panels are expected to be “tight throughout the year.”

TCL chairman Li Dongsheng used a media briefing last week to announce that panel shortages will continue in the first half of 2021, following conditions already hampered last year during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Elec article also cited Innolux president James Yang warning of a shortage in LCD panels caused by strong demand for LCD coming out of the global Covid-19 crisis, and he also added the conditions are expected to continue through 2021.

Innolux has seen shortages in LCD components including power semiconductors, driver ICs and glass substrates that have kept production below capacity. Shortages of integrated circuits and semiconductors could continue right up to the first half of 2022, Yan cautioned.

Ironically, prior to the run on LCD panel supplies, manufacturers were also faced with the dilemma of overproduction causing a glut in inventory, which was driving prices artificially lower. This was the result of giant new LCD fabs coming online in China and other areas of Asia.

TV manufacturers reportedly have been moving aggressively to replenish inventories of LCD panels to meet strong sales of TVs and other devices to meeting escalating demand, particularly in the United States and Europe.

At the same time, Samsung Display LCD monitor panel supplies for monitors are on course to terminate by the end of the first quarter 2021, and supply of IT panels overall will only continue to tighten up as demand increases for TVs and notebook panels, according to Asian analyst reports.

China-based Sigmaintell last week estimated the average selling price for a 21.5-inch LCD module for monitors would rise $3 to $55 this month, compared to a $2.50 increase for 23.8-inch panels and $2 increase for 27-inch monitor panels.

Monitor prices may soon be on the rise, or at least there’s potential for that happening, with existing LCD panel shortages likely to worsen thanks to a couple of recent unfortunate events.

The earthquake was problematic for AU Optronics, a prolific producer of LCDs and a name you’ll often see mentioned in conjunction with monitor panels. It took out some of the firm’s assembly lines for a period of time, resulting in lost production as per a DigiTimes(opens in new tab) report (with word coming from the chairman of AU Optronics, Paul Peng).

Output is back to normal now, but the impact from those supply losses will be felt in conjunction with the event in Japan. That was a power outage in Takatsuki which affected a Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) production facility that makes glass substrates for flat panel displays.

NEG’s production comprises of around 10% of the world’s glass substrate manufacturing, and it supplies the makers of various LCD panels, so the issues with glass substrates will have a knock-on effect in the monitor supply chain.

Why it matters: The global semiconductor industry was worth $439 billion in 2020, and is on track to grow even bigger this year. However, that growth potential is being eroded by a shortage of $1 chips that are essential for every display panel that needs to be manufactured.

A global shortage of chips has wreaked havoc on the supply chains of the tech and auto industries. This has caused many companies to scale back production at a time when demand is soaring for their products. This is the result of a combination of factors, and the current situation will probably not change until the end of next year.

According to a Bloomberg report, there is now a serious shortage of display driver chips that is creating headaches for manufacturers of LCD and OLED panels. This in turn will affect all manner of consumer devices, from the lowly smartwatch to smartphones, tablets, laptops, computer monitors, TVs, smart appliances, and infotainment systems. Every new car or plane comes with one or more display panels, which only adds to the demand.

Nevertheless, the shortage of these driver chips will likely cause further delays and price hikes for products that are currently in high demand, and the manufacturers of these chips don"t see a solution in sight.

The shortfall is already visible in the doubling of prices for large LCD panels over the last year. Himax Technologies CEO Jordan WU told Bloomberg "I have never seen anything like this in the past 20 years since our company"s founding."

As reported by Tom"s Hardware, an earthquake that hit Taiwan last week impacted the production of leading LCD panel maker AU Optronics (AUO). Company chairman Paul Peng said (via DigiTimes) that it took "at least a few hours" to get the lines restarted, resulting in some output loss—though he never said how much.

The earthquake compounded component supply problems in a display industry already suffering the effects of a power outage in Takatsuki, Japan. The five-hour incident on November 10 affected Nippon Electric Glass"s (NEG) Shiga-Takatsuki plant, which manufactures glass substrates for flat-panel displays. The company says some equipment was damaged during the outage.

There are already shortages of display components such as T-con boards and driver ICs, and with the additional production disruption, consumers could soon face the consequences. According to our price tracker, the excellent LG 38GL950G recently jumped back up to its highest price since launch, though it"s unclear whether that"s related to the supply issues.

Just as many industry people are scratching around trying to find what they need to deliver on work in the midst of technology shortages, there’s word the display part of the business is flipping from shortage to oversupply.

The industry analysts at Display Supply Chain (or DSCC) have pushed out a new report that suggests “the shortage of large LCDs, which has lasted for almost a year and has resulted in the biggest panel price increases in the history of the industry, has begun to turn into an oversupply.”

The demand drivers that led to the shortage, particularly strong TV demand in the USA, are fading away with the spread of vaccination in the United States, and industry supply is filling the pipeline with enough inventory to eliminate any fear of shortage.

With respect to the outlook for LCD panel prices in the second half of 2021, we see a possibility that the panel price for LCD TVs will fall in some sizes starting in July. Since the profit margins of LCD manufacturers are at a very high level, we expect that panel makers will maintain a high utilization rate without adjusting production even if there is an oversupply.

TVs and commercial displays look much the same, but differ in engineering and I am not sure if oversupply in TVs means, with time, plenty of supply on the commercial panel side. Even if display panel availability is improving, there are lots of other electronics elements in a digital signage build – media players, connectivity, audio and so on – that might also be hard to find.

The global display driver IC supply fell short of demand by over 50% in the second quarter of this year. But now the supply reaches 80% customer demands, and the driver IC shortage will be further alleviated next year, JW Insights learned.

Since the second half of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic fueled the growth of the stay-at-home economy, which resulted in explosive demand for consumer electronics such as laptops and TVs. Meanwhile, the 5G, servers, data center, and electric vehicle sectors were also booming. As a result, the display driver IC supply became tight, and the industry experienced severe shortages.

The current supply of driver ICs is still insufficient, with the decline in application device market demand, LCD panel prices have also fallen to varying degrees. The price of various display driver ICs fluctuates with supply and demand changes.

Lin Yongjie, Chairman of Fitipower Integrated Technology(天鈺科技), a design company of power management IC and TFT-LCD driver IC, said, “In May and June this year, our company could only meet 50% of customers" orders, but recently we have been able to deliver 80%. We took this opportunity to build a relatively healthy inventory.”

Hu Shubin, CEO of ASUS, a computer and phone hardware company headquartered in Taipei, also pointed out that the PC market is still in short supply, but the shortage of IC chips and display panels has begun to ease. The inventory has gradually returned to a healthy level.

Another IC design company executive told JW Insights,“At present, the demand for large-size display panel driver ICs has indeed declined, but the main reason is that plants cannot operate at full capacity due to the impact of the Covid-19. However, the overall supply of small and medium-sized panel driver ICs is still deficient. Overall, the industry supply may reach nearly 80% of the market demand."

Regarding product price changes, the above executive said, “Eight-inch wafers will continue to be in short supply, and the prices of large-size panel driver chips enjoyed a strong increase in the first half of the year and indicate an upward trend in the near future. It is projected that TDDI(Touch and Display Driver Integration) prices will stabilize.”

"The thriving streaming media platforms such as Netflix, Apple+, and Disney+ are leading to surging demand for TVs, so I think the price of large-size panel driver ICs is unlikely to fall even if the current price is stable. Meanwhile, the small-size panel driver demand is still strong, and the production capacity of fabs is insufficient, so there is no chance that prices will fall," he added.

Bloomberg today reported that a shortage of inexpensive display driver chips has delayed production of the LCD panels used in, well, pretty much every product category you can think of. Displays are ubiquitous, and many devices can"t function without them. But for the displays to work, they require a display driver — no, not Nvidia or AMD display drivers, those are software. We"re talking about a tiny chip that sends instructions and signals to the display.

All of which means that a display driver shortage can cause delays for smartphones, laptops, and game consoles; automobiles, airplanes, and navigation systems; and various appliances, smart home devices, and other newly be-screened products.

Companies will have to sit on otherwise-ready displays (assuming panel production improves) until that changes. This probably seems familiar to manufacturers waiting for SSD controller supply to rebound after the February disruption of a Samsung fab.

That"s only part of the problem, of course, as the global chip shortage affects practically every aspect of the electronics industry. It"s a matter of improving the availability of CPUs, GPUs, mobile processors, chipsets, display panels, single board computers, and who-knows-how-many other components. No biggie.

The high volume in 4Q20 was fueled by a combination of strong demand due to working and learning from home requirements and display panel component shortages that further expanded shipments

Looking ahead, IDC expects component shortages to last at least through the first half of 2021. Changes in work style will also lead to shifts in the market’s customer mix and geographic focus. IDC expects both hybrid work and the popularity of gaming to drive continued strength in the consumer market that will complement a recovery in commercial spending as office occupancy improves.

The high volume in 4Q20 was fueled by a combination of strong demand due to working and learning from home requirements and display panel component shortages that further expanded shipments. Although some geographies have seen life move closer to pre-pandemic levels, ongoing restrictions of varying degrees continued to help funnel consumer budgets to furnish their homes for work or entertainment, even as low office occupancy inhibited commercial monitor spending.

At the same time, a shortage of components like display driver integrated circuits (ICs) and rising shipping costs also contributed to shipment growth as some manufacturers opted to amass stock ahead of component price hikes that could last through the middle of 2021.

Strong demand for LCD panels in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has created shortages that will remain in the entire 2021, according to Innolux president James Yang.

Global production capacity for LCD panels exceeds global demand currently, but actual output is much less than the capacity due to continued shortages of key components including polarizers, power ICs, driver ICs and glass substrates, Yang said at a March 3 investors conference.

Shortage of ICs is the most serious and may remain until first-half 2022, Yang noted. Japan-based Nippon Electric Glass and Asahi Glass, two main suppliers of glass substrates, have seen factory accidents and the glass supply is expected to be tight in first-half 2021, Yang indicated.

In view of potential demand for high value-added automotive displays along with development of smart cockpits and integration of various digital information, Innolux has worked with clients developing high-end free-form miniLED-backlit LCD automotive displays of over 20 inches for use in high-end car models, Yang said, adding Innolux has begun small-volume shipments for such displays, and aims to become the market leader in 2023.

Due to the pandemic and along with increasing deployments of 5G infrastructure, global demand for online education is growing fast, and Innolux’s shipment for notebook-use LCD panels in 2020 hiked 50% on year to become the second-largest supplier worldwide, Yang indicated.

Of global demand for Chromebooks used in online education, 30% was met in 2020 and 70% is not yet satisfied, and Innolux is optimistic about shipments for notebook-use LCD panels in 2021, Yang noted.

In view of fast increasing application of AI, IoT and 5G, Innolux has stepped into business other than LCD panels. Based on TFT-LCD manufacturing technology, Innolux has worked with US-based Kymeta to produce liquid crystal meta-surface antennas and with InnoCare Optoelectronics, its subsidiary, to produce X-ray flat panel detectors for medical diagnosis.

COVID-19 has had a dramatic effect on the electronics industry. The worldwide drive for people to work and educate from home and the increase in demand for medical products have taken the supply of electronics components from overcapacity to shortage and extended lead times. This was multiplied by the shutdown of manufacturing and the attempt to catch up with previous demand. The industrial market has also gotten hit by the loss of small gen fab capacity due to the shutting down of older, less competitive fabs.

Before COVID-19, the display market had been in an oversupply with the slowdown in cell phone demand. With the increased demand for laptops, monitors, and even TVs has backfilled this capacity and driven us into a shortage situation. This shortage of electronic components is not only in the display market but extends to basic components like resistors and capacitors.

– Pandemic:The direct and root cause of causing the crisis is the pandemic.  In March 2020, a lot of countries issued executive orders for people to stay at home. The demand for various products dropped sharply. A lot of manufacturers cancelled or pushed out orders.  The world 1st and 2nd biggest LCD manufacturers Samsung and LG declared the plan to stop all the LCD production. A lot of LCD panel and IC manufacturers cut the production because of order drop or executive orders to stay at home. They use stock instead of the fresh production to fill the demands.

– Chaos of Executive orders and planning:Because of the pandemic, nobody knew what was ahead.  Executive orders were updated monthly, the same as the planning for schools, plants, companies and other organizations. By July, a lot of schools started to realize that it was not practical to open the schools in personal and needed every student to have online classes which suddenly boosted the orders of laptops, monitors, TVs and other entertainment devices. The LCD panel manufacturers couldn’t ramp up for so fast increased demands. The stock was cleared quickly and LCD factories had been running 7/24 starting last fall which still couldn’t keep up the order speed. The price increase followed right after.

– Zero Stock Policies: LCD panel and IC prices had been inclined for more than a decade. There had been a fixed mindset for a lot of commodity executives and managers that the prices will fall ever. Because the competition was tough for suppliers, the big customers demand for OTD (On Time Delivery), especially for automotive makers. They don’t hold much or any stock in order to improve the cost down and cash flow. The result is that they totally rely on suppliers to hold the inventory. With the pandemic, a lot of customers first pushed out orders which made the supplier chill in spine. The suppliers tried to cut their inventory in order to prepare enough cash for industrial winter.