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LG.Philips LCD Maintains Position as World's Leading TFT-LCD Supplier for Fifth Consecutive Month, Based on Shipment Volume
2003-04-03
SEOUL, South Korea, April 2 -- LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd., a
leading innovator in thin-film-transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD)technology, today announced that according to recent data published by Austin,Texas-based market research firm DisplaySearch, the company continues to maintain its position as the world's leader in large-area TFT-LCD* shipment volume for the fifth consecutive month since October 2002. According to the DisplaySearch Monitor Newsletter (March 28, 2003), LG.Philips LCD's overall shipment volume for the first two months of 2003 (1.25 million units for February '03/ 2.4 million units overall) has already surpassed its 2002 first quarter shipment volume of 2.4 million units.
DisplaySearch also reported that LG.Philips LCD has reduced the cost of TFT-LCDs for monitors as a result of its first Gen. 5 factory, the world's first Gen. 5 line to come online. DisplaySearch also predicted that the company should continue to expand output with its 1100 x 1250 mm P5 fab, the world's third Gen. 5 fab to come online. LG.Philips LCD plans to expand its capacity of P5 to 60K input sheets per month by the end of this year and, thus should maintain its leadership position as the world's number one TFT-LCD manufacturer by having 120K input sheets a month of Gen. 5 TFT-LCD factories (its P4 and P5).
Since January 2003, DisplaySearch reports, that LG.Philips LCD showed significant growth across multiple applications, including notebook PCs (12 percent); monitors (8 percent); and LCD TVs and other applications (8 percent). Furthermore, LG.Philips LCD was the only company to experience any sequential unit growth (8 percent) from January to February. The report also notes that only one of LG.Philips LCD's several competitors maintained the same growth rate as it had reported the previous month, while the rest
posted between a decline of between 4 percent to 18 percent.
This report, which announced the February 2003 shipments of seven major TFT-LCD companies in Korea and Taiwan, indicated that mid-sized TFT-LCD shipments in February 2003 decreased by 3 percent, in comparison to January 2003. Based upon the Q1 '03 shipment increase (traditionally a slower quarter than a strong Q4 '02 quarter), DisplaySearch described the current market situation as "healthy growth" market.
*Large area TFT-LCDs are 10-inches and above