Despite shortages in upstream LED supply, Taiwan-based TFT-LCD panel maker AU Optronics (AUO) believes global LED-backlit TV market share will surpass 20% in 2010, while AUO expects its LED-backlit TV panel shipment share to reach 30% of its total TV panel shipments in the third quarter of 2010 and to over 40% at the end of the year, according to AUO executive VP of global business unit Paul Peng.
AUO's LED-backlit TV panel shipments are expected to reach one million units per month in the third quarter of 2010, and up to 1.2 million units per month in the fourth quarter, Peng noted.
LED-backlit models' share of the LCD TV market reached 14% in the second quarter, and will increase to 26-28% in the third quarter, and surpass 30% in the fourth quarter, he added.
Price will be the major factor affecting LED-backlit TV's popularity in the market. The current retail price of a LED-backlit TV is about 1.4-1.7 times the price of CCFL-backlit set, but the gap is expected to narrow in the second half of 2010, Peng said, adding that the price of LED-backlit TV panels will be 1.3-1.4 times the price of CCFL-backlit TV panels in the second half.
Significant growth is expected when the price gap in the end market narrows to 1.2-1.3 times, and this is expected to happen in 2011 with LED-backlit TVs' market share exceeding 50%, Peng added.
For LCD monitors, Peng said that LED-backlit models accounted for 22% of AUO's total monitor panels in the second quarter, and will reach 30% in the third quarter and 50% in the fourth quarter. AUO may achieve the goal of 100% LED-backlit for monitor panels earlier than the target year of 2012, he added.
LED-backlit models' share in the overall LCD monitor market was 17% in the second quarter, and is expected to reach 23% in the third quarter and over 30% in the fourth quarter, AUO added.
AUO's notebook panels now are 100% LED-backlit, Peng said.
Although the display industry has generally seen shortages of LEDs, AUO, with its deployments in the LED supply chain over the past two to three years, has sufficient supply from both in-house and outside sources, Peng said.