Price rises loom on notebook, monitor glass shortage

A shortage of glass substrate used to make TFT LCD panels means prices continue  to climb on products using them, well into July.

Displaysearch released a set of figures for May shipments of large area TFT LCD panels - 43.3 million shipped and that's up eight percent month on month, and six percent year on year.

The 43.3 million units are the highest shipments on record for the past 12 month, giving succour to the manufacturers of the glass.

Notebook PCs, monitors and TVs all a month on month growth of seven
percent, five percent and 14 percent respectively. Shipments, Displaysearch said, will increase again this month.

"The panel supply  situation will continue to tighten in June and July, which will result in higher revenues," David Hsieh, VP of Displaysearch said.

Panel makers including CMO, AUO, LG Display and Samsung are starting to ship  11.6-inch panels for mininote PCs.

Hsieh said: "May results are encouraging for panel makers, as they reflect a  healthy recover in demand. Considering the current end market demand and the limited supply of glass substrates, as well as the low panel inventories, we expect the shortage conditions will continue. In June, both panel shipments and prices continue to increase, and we expect to see additional price increases in  July."