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Taiwan panel specialist AU Optronics (AUO) expects high order visibility for the first quarter of 2018, especially for high-end, high-value panel products, but it is guardedly optimistic about shipment performance in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to company sources.
AUO chairman Paul Peng said that his company sees strong shipment momentum for small-sized panels for mobile phones in the fourth quarter of 2017, adding that despite declines in TV panel prices, brand TV vendors in the US and Europe are actively proceeding with year-end promotional campaigns starting from Thanksgiving, and therefore his firm’s overall year-end sales of TV panels will not be bad.
Peng continued that AUO will experience a busy season in the first quarter of 2018, as it will have to make preparations for rolling out new products, mostly high-end and high-value panels to fulfill new orders. The company will conduct regular annual equipment maintenance from December to February, but it will not shorten the maintenance time for the order fulfillment, he stressed.
The firm’s high order visibility in the first quarter of 2018 does not reflect the situations at other panel makers, Peng said, as it will depend on whether their mainstream products can meet customer demand.
Significant supply-demand balance in 2018
AUO regularly negotiates with customers every October-November over the panel supplies for the following year, Peng disclosed, adding that customer demand will remain strong in 2018, enabling his company to maintain a significant balance between supply and demand.
Peng reiterated that not all the panel makers can enjoy a similar balance. For instance, he said, makers of traditional a-Si panels for use in mobile phones are expected to see demand for their products shrink in 2018, due to growing adoption of LTPS LCD and OLED panels by vendors of higher-end smartphone models.
Peng said that his firm’s Kunshan, China plant, inaugurated in November 2016, mainly rolls out LTPS panels for use in smartphones and high-end notebooks, with a monthly capacity of 25,000 substrates. As the plant can accommodate production lines with a total monthly capacity of 60,000 substrates, AUO is planning the second phase of equipment installation and mulling whether to use the remaining capacity for the production of OLED panels.
AUO has just received five of the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards (TCSA) hosted by the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy for reducing power consumptions by 50% and reducing carbon emissions by 60% at its Longtan plant in northern Taiwan, installing solar power generation equipment on the rooftops of all its TFT-LCD plants in Taiwan, and recycling over 900 metric tons of waste copper per year, among others.
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