"Due to LCD Price Plunge... Display Fab Operation Rate Expected to Drop from 90% to 82%"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] An analysis has emerged predicting that the factory operating rates in the display industry will decline in the fourth quarter as LCD panel prices sharply drop in the second half of this year.

On the 31st, display market research firm DSCC stated in a recent report that the display factory operating rate slightly fell from 90% in the second quarter of this year to 89% in the third quarter, and is expected to drop further to 85% in the fourth quarter and 82% in the first quarter of next year. DSCC evaluated that "a quarterly decline in operating rates is expected in most regions worldwide," attributing the main cause to the fall in LCD panel prices.

DSCC assesses display factory operating rates through TFT input volume. TFT is a semiconductor device that acts as a kind of switch controlling pixels, the basic units of displays. It is forecasted that the total TFT input volume of all display manufacturers in the fourth quarter of this year will be 85.1 million square meters, a 3% decrease from the previous quarter and a 7% decrease from the same period last year. Until the third quarter of this year, TFT input volume had increased by 3% quarter-on-quarter and 12% year-on-year to 87.3 million square meters, but it has now turned to a downward trend.

In fact, LCD panel prices continued to soar until the first half of this year but have rapidly declined since the second half. As of the second half of October, the price of a 32-inch panel was $44, down 21.4% compared to the same period last year. This is the lowest level since August last year ($42). Even on a quarterly basis, the decline in the fourth quarter has become steeper.

DSCC mentioned that due to the surge in LCD panel prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean display companies such as LG Display and Samsung Display postponed the timing of halting TV LCD panel production. DSCC reported, "LG Display maintained a high operating rate of its production lines in Korea until the third quarter of this year, while Samsung Display, unlike LGD, maintained its LCD production lines in Korea but gradually reduced production itself."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.