Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) Decrease 2008 LCD Shipment Forecast by 6%

Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), the third largest LCD manufacturer in Taiwan, announced that it has decreased its large-area LCD shipment forecasts for 2008 by 6%. The reduction in its goal for the year is in response to weaker-than-expected demand for LCD panels. Here is the breakdown by large-area LCD application:

• LCD Monitor Panels: Original goal 19.2M (9.5M 1H’08, 9.7M 2H’08) –> 17.9M (9.4M, 8.5M). This is a reduction of 6.77%.
• Notebook PC Panels: Original goal 6.8M (3M 1H’08, 3.8M 2H’08) –> 6.1M (2.9M, 3.2). This is reduction of 10.29%.
• LCD TV Panels: Original goal 2.7M (1.4M 1H’08, 1.3M 2H’08) –> 2.9M (1.4M, 1.5M). This is an increase of 7.4%.

CPT has also reduced its fab utilization rates by 10%, similar to LG Display and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) and AU Optronics (AUO), for the short-term and only until the end of August. Clearly CPT is expecting the second half of the year to experience a rebound in demand for LCD TVs. This is questionable as even Sony has mentioned that it has a cautious outlook for the rest of the year. Sony maintained its LCD TV forecast of 17M units for 2008 in its latest earnings report.

Source: DigiTimes

[tags]Chunghwa Picture Tubes, CPT, Display Manufacturer, LCD Manufacturer, LCD Monitor, LCD TV, Notebook PC, LG Display, Chi Mei Optoelectronics, CMO, Sony[/tags]