Korean Display Makers Give Japanese a Run for the Money.

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Online staff

Korean suppliers are working on giving their Japanese counterparts a run for the money in the small and medium sized TFT-LCD panel market.

That's according to a new report from iSuppli that says that Japan's dominance in the display market for screens smaller than 10-inches in diagonal size is being challenged by Korean competitors that are slashing prices and expanding production.

Most of these types of displays are used in cell phones, but they also are used in other handheld electronic products such as MP3 players, personal media players (PMPs) and cameras/camcorders. Other applications include automotive and industrial/financial, iSuppli said.

And while worldwide shipments of LCD displays overall are expected to grow at only a 3 percent compound annual growth rate between 2004 and 2009, the subset of those shipments that make up small screens will grow much faster. The smaller panels are expected to more than double going forward, rising to more than 1 billion units in 2009 after growing at a CAGR of 20.2 percent from 417.8 million in 2004

Japanese suppliers such as Sharp, Sanyo Epson, NEC, Hitachi and Toshiba Matsushita Display have led the market. According to iSuppli, these companies have focused their efforts on smaller displays after South Korean competitors took over the market for large-sized TFT-LCD panels in the late 1990s.

But South Korean suppliers such as Samsung Electronics and LG.Philips LCD have launched aggressive campaigns to win the small side of the market as well with their lower prices and expanded production.

And their efforts are already paying off, iSuppli said, with Samsung and LG.Philips increasing their market share at the expense of the Japanese in Q2.

Samsung's share rose to 11.4 percent in the second quarter, up from 9.4 percent in the first.

LG.Philips LCD achieved a more modest increase in market share with an increase to 5.6 percent, up from 5.4 percent in the first quarter.

Still, iSuppli believes the Japanese companies maintain a technological edge, which they can use to produce higher-quality displays than the competition. They also have the opportunity to engage in mergers and acquisitions to bolster their manufacturing capacity.