Panel makers slash capacity in Q3

Panel makers are slowing down on production for the second half of this year, thanks to little demand and quickly dropping prices.

The manufacturers are reducing capacity, and glass input will have dropped 14 percent in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter. Still, it's a five percent growth year on year at 12.2 million square meters. 

They hope to keep that level steady, according to 

Only tablets and mini notes will maintaing the same capacity rates throughout the quarters this year. They grew 79 percent year on year but they are a relatively new technology, as electronics manufacturers have rushed to compete with 

Glass input dropped in particular for TFT LCD in the desktop monitor, TV and notebook PC incarnations, at 19 percent, 13 percent and 17 percent quarterly declines. Double digit demand drop all around, then.

Panel makers assumed that the market was going to favour them, having penned in utilisation rates of up to 90 percent for the third quarter, but DisplaySearch senior analyst Shawn Lee claims it'll only be 75 percent. 

Manufacturing generations are all experiencing a double digit drop for the confusing quarter, except, says the analyst house, Gen 10 - because of the low utilisation rate in the second quarter because of the earthquake in Japan.