China-based BOE Tops World LCD Panel Market

It has been found that BOE of China took first place in the world LCD panel TV panel market in the first quarter of this year, continuing from last year.

According to Chinese market researcher Sigmaintel on May 7, BOE, a state-owned Chinese display maker, posted a global market share of 21% for the LCD TV market with 12.5 million units shipped in the first quarter of the year, outclassing LG Display (20%).

In the first quarter, LG Display ranked second with 12.1 million units, while Samsung Display third with 10 million units. China's CSOT, which shipped 9.4 million units, placed fourth, and Innolux and AUO of Taiwan came in fifth and sixth respectively. Each of seven Chinese companies including Sharp acquired by Foxconn of Taiwan stood ninth or higher on the list.

China accounted for 34.5% of total shipments of the top nine companies while Taiwan and Korea, 23.4% and 22.1%, respectively.

The gap between the market shares of Korea and China is gradually widening. According to market researcher IHS Markit, Chinese and Taiwanese makers accounted for 34.1% and 31.4% of the LCD panel market, respectively, recording a combined market share of 65.5%. This is an increase of 5.1 percentage points from 60.4% in 2016. On the contrary, the share of Korean companies shrank by 6.3 percentage points from 35.9% in 2016 to 29.6% last year.

The LCD industry expects that the gap between LCD market shares of China and Korea will continue to widen in the next two to three years. This is because large-sized display companies of China such as BOE, China Star and Foxconn will put seven LCD factories into operation for two years starting this year.

In the neantime, Samsung Display and LG Display are focusing on organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels while gradually suspending their investment in LCD facilities.