The shortage in display driver IC (DDI) was one of the factors for display panel makers to prefer producing larger panels.
Due to the shortage, display panel makers chose monitor panels over TV panel and larger TV panels over smaller ones.
TV and monitor panels are usually produced at the same generation line. Monitor panels are more profitable than TV panels. Demand for monitor panels were especially high in the second half of 2020.
According to TrendForce, shipment of 65-inch or larger TVs increased 23.4% in the second half of 2020. TVs 70-inch or larger increased by 47.8%.
However, total TV shipment last year was 217 million units, down 0.3%. IT panels including monitor saw increased shipment but TV panel shipment remained flat. TrendForce. Shortage in DDI pushed back some shipment schedules for TVs in the fourth quarter, the firm said.
Demand for electronics were high in the second half of 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent stay home measures, but TV panel prices remained low so display panel makers reacted by making larger liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.
DDI shortage is expected to continue in the first half of 2021, leading to shortage in LCD panels. Last month, NEG’s power outage in its glass factory will also negatively affect LCD panel supply.
Shortage in LCD TV panel has pushed Samsung and LG to ask their respective display panel affiliates to extended their LCD TV panel production. Chinese display panel makes are shifting their 8.5th-generation TV panel lines to those for IT panels while they will expand TV panel production in their 10.5th-generation lines.
