Shenzhen Enrich Electronics Co.,Ltd

According to the Economic Daily News, South Korea's panel makers have gradually reduced their LCD panel production capacity in the past two years. Although the closure of the factory has been delayed for another year, compared to 2019, LGD only has half of the 8.5-generation factory capacity, and Samsung has only left. An 8.5-generation plant has limited actual output.

Xie Qinyi, senior research director of Omdia, said that in addition to the reduction in production capacity, the lack of ICs and the lack of polarizers have severely restricted the actual output of Korean panel makers. Therefore, the panel shortage in the first half of 2021 is difficult to solve.

In the past few years, Korean panel manufacturers have strategically developed OLED panel technology and gradually withdrew from the LCD panel field. In 2020, Samsung also has a 7th-generation factory and three 8.5-generation factories. Among them, the 8.5-generation factory in Suzhou was sold to China Star Optoelectronics. The production volume of the other two 8.5-generation factories was only half of 2019.

According to the current plan, the 7th generation factory will also produce display panels in the first quarter of 2021, and the 7th generation factory will be closed from April. As for the remaining 8.5 generation factory, it is planned to produce until November this year. Will decrease quarter by quarter.

As for LGD, there are still two 8.5-generation fabs, with a production volume of about 260,000 pieces in a quarter, but the product structure has been adjusted, and only half of that in 2019. According to LGD's shipment plan, TV panels will be reduced by 10-15% in 2021, and IT panel shipments will be roughly the same as 2020.

Xie Qinyi said that the LCD panel production capacity of South Korean panel makers has been significantly reduced in recent years. Samsung's 2021 production capacity has been reduced by more than 60% compared to 2019, and LGD production capacity has also been reduced by 50%. In addition, the two panel makers have already notified customers and suppliers that component manufacturers such as glass substrates, polarizers, and driver ICs have successively closed production lines or switched to other panel makers.

Now that the supply of panel components is tight, the willingness to support panel factories that will only reproduce for one or two years is not high.

LGD faces the problem of insufficient supply of glass substrates and driver ICs, and Samsung not only cannot get driver ICs and T-Con, but also because the supplier DongWoo shuts down the factory, the polarizers that can be obtained are quite limited, so how much is the actual output? The variables are still big.

Xie Qinyi said that strong demand for panels will continue into the first half of 2021. Coupled with the continuous shortage of supply in the panel supply chain, the increase in production capacity is limited. It is expected that the panel supply chain will still be tight in the first half of the year and the price trend will be stable.