Large Volume of Color Filter Capacity Coming Online in 2008 Eases Gen. 5 Supply Issues

Austin, Texas, July 9, 2008–DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in display market research and consulting, reports the previously tight supply of color filters (CFs) for LCDs began to ease in the second quarter and will move into oversupply in 2009. Analysis of CF supply demand, as well as a huge variety of other information on pricing, supply chain, revenue, costs, technology and much more is contained in the latest DisplaySearch Quarterly TFT LCD Component Report: Color Filters.

“Color filter supply is now recovering from the shortages of 2007, and will move from tight to loose throughout 2008. Gen 5 CF procurement problems, in particular, should decrease as Toppan CFI restarts the former AMTC line, SVA Fujifilm ramps a new line, and other in-house and merchant CF makers expand capacity,” said Charles Annis, DisplaySearch Vice President of Manufacturing Research, who is the author of the report. “There still may be some spot supply problems, particularly for Gen 4 CFs,” Annis continued. “Despite this, we think total color filter supply is sufficient and that capacity will continue to grow vigorously. New investments in 2008 and 2009 will increase capacity and keep prices on a declining curve.”

A few of the many topics of interest in the color filter report are

Despite continuing economic concerns, at this point, 2008 is still expected to be a reasonably good year for the LCD industry; CF makers and their suppliers should do well.
The CF market value in 2008 is expected to exceed ¥1 trillion ($9.75 billion).
Annual price reductions for Gen 5 through Gen 7 CFs will stabilize at 9 to 11%.
The vast majority of CFs in Q1’08 were made in-house in Korea (91%) and Taiwan (82%), while only 9% were made in-house in Japan.
To date the majority of China’s color filters have been supplied by DNP, but local production will increase and other merchant vendors will vie for new business opportunities.
Detailed modeling of CF fabrication costs made with ink-jet techniques instead of photolithography suggest that due to continuing technical issues savings are currently less than 3%, so adoption of ink-jet methods for volume production is still slow.

Significant changes have been made beginning with this Q2’08 edition of the color filter report. Among these are the addition of color filter price information for new panel types, including 19”W and 32” VA, and the expansion of the component and total cost comparisons, such as Gen 4 transflective versus transmissive CFs.

Contents of the Q2’08 Quarterly TFT LCD Component Report: Color Filters

Executive Summary
Introduction
Fab Activity & Capacity
Actual Shipments
- Q1’08 Market Share
- Q1’08 Value Chain and Forecast
Supply/Demand
Pricing & Revenue
Cost Analysis
News & Technology

In addition to the PowerPoint presentation, CF capacity Excel data tables are provided. The data base includes capacity for all CF suppliers summed in terms of substrates per month and area, as well as a variety of other ways, such as phase, region, glass size generation, fab, merchant vs. in-house, both quarterly and annually. The report is published on a quarterly basis for yearly contracts. The Q2’08 report includes 106 slides. For more information on the Quarterly TFT LCD Component Report: Color Filters please contact DisplaySearch sales at 512-687-1511 or sales@displaysearch.com, or contact your regional DisplaySearch offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China.

About DisplaySearch
DisplaySearch, an NPD Group company, has a core team of 59 employees located in Europe, North America and Asia who produce a valued suite of FPD-related market forecasts, technology assessments, surveys, studies and analyses. Visit the DisplaySearch blog to read about how our top analysts are interpreting up-to-the-minute issues that impact the display industry, and join us in this discussion about technology and the flat panel industry. The company also organizes influential events worldwide. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, DisplaySearch has regional operations in Chicago, Houston, Kyoto, London, San Diego, San Jose, Seoul, Shenzhen, Taipei and Tokyo, and the company is on the web at http://www.displaysearch.com/.

About The NPD Group, Inc.
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