TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan's display panel makers AU Optronics(AUO) said today, despite the weak demand for television in the European market, China, the United States and emerging Asia still have strong demands for large-screen TV.
Michael Tsai, newly appointed General Manager of AUO, said that effected by economic and exchange rate, the demand for TVs is still weak in Europ. But China, the United States and emerging Asia have strong demands for large-screen TV.
He noted that, overall, the global TV shipments will still subside of 3%, but the total production area will continue to grow at 5%.
Projecting to 2016, AUO believes that large-screen TVs is still the mainstream of the market, and bring up the demand for larger-size panels; Tablet PCs will be a double-digit decline; the smartphones will still have double-digit growth, especially in emerging regions and toward high-resolution panel.
Michael Tsai said that AUO will contune to provide high value products and focus on large-size, UHD (4K), curved and wide color gamut technology, especially large-size 4K panels.
He stressed that the current market share of AUO’s 50-inch LCD panel ranked third in the world, and 4K panel shipments accounted for 30 percent of its total shipments. It is expected to grow to 40 percent in the fourth quarter this year.
In the face of the rise of China's LCD industry, AUO believes that technology is still the key to competitiveness. "Future panel market will result in different individual companies, technology and product portfolio will be the key." Michael Tsai said.


