Research: Component Costs Rise, Large-Sized TV Panels Expected to Continue Price Increase in April

TrendForce today announced panel prices for early April, with TV panels and notebook panels remaining flat, and LCD monitor panels rising; however, for the entire month of April, TV panels are also expected to continue rising. Fan Bo-yu pointed out that panel manufacturers hope to raise TV panel prices to offset cost pressures; however, currently, small and medium-sized TV products are impacted by rising memory prices, and profit margins are severely compressed. Therefore, it is estimated that only large-sized TV panels may maintain price increases in April, while small and medium-sized TV panels will begin to freeze. In terms of sizes, prices for 32-inch to 55-inch are expected to remain flat, while 65-inch and 75-inch will increase by $1. Fan Bo-yu explained that demand for LCD monitor panels is stable after Q2, but various components used in the panels themselves are still subject to price increases. For panel manufacturers, they hope to expand the price increase of panels to avoid further losses due to rising costs. TrendForce expects that the price increase for LCD monitor panels in April will be no less than in March. For Open Cell panels, 23.8-inch FHD IPS is expected to increase by $0.3 to $0.4, and 27-inch FHD IPS by $0.2 to $0.3. For panel modules, 23.8-inch FHD IPS is expected to increase by $0.3, and 27-inch FHD IPS by $0.2. In addition, prices for high-end product related ICs are rising sharply, and panel prices may also have room for adjustment starting in April. For notebook panels, due to brand customers having made large advance purchases before the end of Q1, coupled with tight supply and rising prices of memory and CPUs, which affect normal brand supply, brand customers are trying to procure and produce as early as possible to avoid subsequent risks, but this may lead to a gradual weakening of notebook panel demand from mid-to-late Q2. TrendForce estimates that notebook panel prices in April may turn completely flat due to potentially declining demand and increasing cost pressures. (Editor: Chang Liang-chih) 1150407