Display panel industry to see fewer players down the road: experts

By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- The display panel sector is likely to see a drop in
the number of manufacturers in the coming years as slowing revenue growth could
force out weaker players, South Korean and U.S. industry experts said Thursday.

Declining panel prices and falling margins are likely to push smaller display
panel manufacturers out of the market, analysts agreed.
"In the next five years we are going to move from 10 makers to maybe five or
six," said Barry Young, managing director of OLED Association, at the 2009 World
Knowledge Conference held in Seoul.
He said that the number of panel suppliers may be reduced to a handful of
companies, including Samsung Electronics, LG Display, AUO and Sharp.
Paul Semenza, senior vice president of market researcher DisplaySearch, agreed
but he also suggested a possible entry of Chinese manufacturers on the back of
the fast growing local market.
"What is not yet clear is whether those (Chinese) players are really just local
partners of Samsung, LG Display and Sharp ... or whether they will try to start
on their own to build up the business in China," Semenza said.
A South Korean executive from LG Display echoed this view and said that it is
only a matter of time before Chinese players become bigger rivals and start to
catch up with key players.
"If we say the technological development is proportionate to the amount of
resources poured in, I think it is very likely that Chinese manufacturers will
become a threat (to the existing players) in a few years," Lee Nam-yang, an
executive of the world's second largest maker of liquid crystal displays, said.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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