LONDON—TV panel shipments dropped by 9% in April 2022 compared to a month earlier, Omdia's latest Large Area Display Market Tracker is reporting.
The researchers also note that TV panel prices have decreased noticeably since Q3 2021, with many TV panel prices falling below their manufacturing cost and panel makers beginning to lose money in their TV panel business starting in Q4 2021.
Overall, TV LCD panel shipments increased to a peak of 23.4 million in December 2021, driven by low prices. But rising inflation, the Ukraine crisis and continued lockdowns in China have slowed demand. As a result, TV panel shipments posted a 9% month on month decline in April, to 21.7 million units.
Despite lower prices and mounting losses, Omdia also reported that Chinese panel makers, the biggest capacity owners, still haven't reduced their fab utilization. With no sign of demand recovery in Q2 2022 or even Q3 2022, the supply/demand situation is unlikely to see improvement, explained Robin Wu, principal analyst for Large Area Display & Production, Omdia.
"IT LCD panels could still deliver positive cash flow for panel makers,” Wu said. “But with prices dropping dramatically, panel makers will soon start to lose money in their IT panel business. Maybe only then will panel makers reduce their glass input and the overall supply/demand situation will return to balance."
Overall, Omdia is reporting that shipments of large-area TFT LCD display panels dropped to historical lows in April as pandemic impacts combined with disruptions from the war in Europe and lockdowns in China to dampen demand.
Omdia defines large-area TFT LCD displays as larger than 9 inches.
Its data shows that large-area TFT LCD panel shipments decreased by 10% month on month in April compared to March and 5% compared to a year earlier to 74.1million units in April of 2022, representing historically low shipment performance since May 2020.
"With continued ramifications from the pandemic, demand for IT panels for monitors and notebook PCs remained strong in 4Q21,” WU said. “But as the market became saturated starting in 2022, IT panel shipments started slowing in 1Q22 and early 2Q22."
Wu said that notebook panel shipments decreased 21% MoM in April, to 18.2 million units, or a 33% decrease from a peak of 27.3 million units in November 2021.
