By Kang Seung-woo
Chinese flat-panel maker BOE dethroned Korea’s LG Display in shipment volume of large LCD panels for the first time in January, according to a British research firm, Tuesday.
“For the first time ever, a Chinese display maker, taking a total share of 22.3 percent in unit shipments, is displacing Korea’s display makers,” IHS Markit said.
LG Display, the perennial business bellwether, dropped to second with 21.6 percent followed by Taiwan’s AU Optronics with 16.4 percent and Innolux with 15.7 percent.
Samsung Display had a 9.9 percent share for fifth place.
“BOE has been aggressively attacking the IT display market in shipment volumes at a time when top-tier panel makers started to turn focus away from this segment,” said Robin Wu, an analyst of large displays at IHS Markit.
BOE aggressively shipped panels bigger than 9 inches used for tablets, notebook PCs and monitors. Particularly, the firm took a 29 percent share in notebook PCs, compared with runner-up Innolux’s 20 percent.
As of the first quarter of last year, LG took a big lead over BOE by 7.1 percentage points in shipment volumes, but the latter was steadily cutting the margin by about 2 percentage points by the end of 2016.
For LG Display, however, there is a silver lining that it still remains the top supplier for TV sets with 21.4 percent, followed by Innolux with 16.3 percent and BOE with 15.9 percent.
“Korean panel makers still retain their advantage in large TVs, a higher-demand segment that has benefited from increasing UHD TV penetration and consumer migration to TVs with larger screens. IHS Markit expects South Korean panel makers, known for their operational and technical strengths in large-sized TV display manufacturing, will stay ahead of their Chinese competitors in terms of area shipments for the time being,” Wu said.
However, he added that the Chinese panel suppliers could make a play into the Korean stronghold for large-sized TV displays as they begin focusing on enriching their product portfolio this year.