NPD DisplaySearch Shanghai Office, January 5, 2012--November, 2012: LCD TV panels from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to mainland China TV makers are expected to record a new high, reaching 4.89 million, up 24% from October. The shipments were even higher than the total shipments of Chinese LCD TV makers during the peak season from August to September for the National Day Golden Week. With BOE, the local TV panel manufacturer in China, gradually mass production of its eight-generation production line exclusively for TV panels, we have also started tracking the data of BOE TV panels destined for Chinese domestic TV companies since December 2011 and have included them. To NPD DisplaySearch MarketWise-LCD Industry Dynamics (monthly LCD market dynamics report). Including the shipment of BOE TV panels, we counted that the LCD TV panels of Chinese domestic TV companies reached 5.37 million in November 2011.

As shown in the chart below, we observe that the strong demand for the National Day Golden Week in mainland China has indeed boosted the confidence of panel makers. Panel makers increased their shipment plans for the coming months in December 2011, rising by 7% in December, 4% in January and 13% in February. In December 2011, mainland China purchased a total of 5.6 million TV panels and will once again set a new record. However, Zhang Bing, research director of NPD DisplaySearch's TV market in China, said: "The demand for the sales for the upcoming Lunar New Year (January 22-28, 2012) is basically completed before January 20th, and the end of the Lunar New Year season sales There may be a sharp drop in demand for the panel, which is something panel makers must pay special attention to. In particular, the panel plant's capacity utilization rate may have to be lowered due to the low panel purchase season in January and February."

The following is a follow-up analysis of NPD DisplaySearch's recent situation with panel makers from mainland China:

Prosperous National Day Golden Week sales performance and higher sales expectations for New Year's Day and Spring Festival, LCD panel panel manufacturers shipped to mainland China TV manufacturers in December 2011 again hit a record high. In order to cope with the demand for the Spring Festival season, the stock of domestic panel maker panel stocks also increased from 2-3 weeks in early December to about 3-4 weeks at the end of the month. Compared to the Spring Festival stocking in the past few years, the local manufacturers' stocking strategy seems to be more robust this year, and there is no excess inventory. This is mainly affected by the current panel oversupply and lower panel prices. Mainland TV brands are less concerned about the risk of supply shortages, and there is generally a certain degree of wait-and-see atmosphere in order to obtain better panel price negotiation chips in the first quarter of 2012. Maintain a certain degree of procurement flexibility.

According to NPD DisplaySearch's statistics and forecasts, it is estimated that LCD TV panels for Chinese local manufacturers will record a record high of 5.6 million units in December, but will be revised down to 3.68 million units in January 2012, a significant drop of 34% from December. It is estimated that it will still drop by about 3% in February, dropping to 3.57 million pieces; the demand for panel shipments will have the opportunity to climb to 5.15 million pieces in March to make upcoming inventory preparation for the upcoming May 1st Labor Day season. .

Mainland China's panel purchase still uses Chi Mei Power as the main supplier. CMO is actively striving to cultivate the mainland market and local Chinese customers. Chi Mei Power continued to lead with 1.5 million units of actual shipments; LG Display followed closely with 1.4 million units; AUO exceeded 1 million units to become China with 1 million shipments. The third largest panel supplier of mainland manufacturers; Samsung is fourth. Samsung, on the other hand, revised its shipment plan for December, which was down 8% from its previous forecast. AUO, Chi Mei Power, and LGD increased their shipment targets in December by 17% from the previous target. 15% and 8%.

As demand will drop sharply after the Lunar New Year holiday, all panel makers plan to reduce shipments to Chinese mainland manufacturers from January to avoid inventory build-up. Among them, Samsung and LG Display saw the most significant downward revisions, which were 54% and 50% lower than November shipments respectively. At the same time, the two Korean manufacturers believe that the demand for panels from Chinese mainland manufacturers will resume from February, while AUO and Chi Meidian believe that the panel shipments in February will remain low, and that there will only be a chance to resume in March. Demand for LCD TV panels.

CMO continues to be the largest panel supplier to mainland TV manufacturers, and has benefited the most from the demand for panel from Chinese manufacturers who have continued to grow; Samsung and LG Display are also paying more and more attention to the needs of Chinese manufacturers and the Chinese mainland market. In the coming year, Chi Mei's leading position will pose a certain degree of threat.

Since TV brand manufacturers in mainland China have established vertically integrated production lines integrating their own LCD modules and LED backlights, TV brands in mainland China are gradually increasing the proportion of purchased semi-finished products. This will also affect the sales strategy of panel makers selling LCD TV panels in mainland China. In addition to Chi Mei, LG Display, and AUO both starting to sell semi-finished products to LCD TVs in mainland China, Samsung is also considering opening up its business model for the Chinese glass makers, especially its strategic partners. In addition, mainland China's domestic panel supply capacity has gradually matured. For example, BOE has also started to supply semi-finished products to local brand manufacturers. In addition, China Star Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (CSOT) has also begun sampling and certification. NPD DisplaySearch believes that the supply of LCD TV panels to Chinese mainland manufacturers will certainly undergo profound changes in 2012.

The above is a real-time analysis of LCD TV panel purchases in mainland China, and uses many of the DisplaySearch market survey results and forecast data.