Most backlight unit (BLU) makers have seen their revenues decline 10% on average in November due to slow demand with the prospects that their sales will remain weak in the next three months, according to industry sources.

Sales will be slow in December due to year-end inventory checks at clients, as well as in the January-February period due to reduced work days caused the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, the sources explained.

Radiant Epto-Electronics saw its shipments of large-size LED BLUs for notebooks increased 7% to 3.8 million units in November, but shipments of BLUs for tablet PCs, netbooks and LCM modules slid 46.8% to 1.94 million units during the same month.

Additionally, Radiant's shipments of BLUs for LCD monitors gained 7% on month to 2.63 million units, while those for TVs advanced 7.5% sequentially to one million units.

BLU shipments from Coretronics totaled 4.69 million units in November, down 16% from the previous month. Of total shipments, BLUs for notebook and tablet PC applications were down 18% to 1.98 million units, those for LCD monitors slipped 7% to 1.94 million units, and those for TVs reduced 39% to 450,000 units, according to the company.