AUSTIN, TX – April shipments of large-area TFT LCD panels reached 40.1 million units, up 6% sequentially, says DisplaySearch.
 
The 3% year-over-year increase in shipments marked the first positive year-over-year growth in seven months. However, revenues were 39% lower than April 2008, indicating the magnitude of price declines over the past year, says the research firm.

Large-area TFT LCD revenues increased 6% sequentially, to $4.2 billion. April shipments indicate a continuation of the large area TFT LCD recovery, the firm said.
 
All three major applications – notebook PC, monitor and TV – showed sequential growth. Notebook PC panels had the highest at 9%, followed by TV panels at 8% and monitor panels at 3%. However, monitor panel shipments are still lower than the same month last year. Notebook panel shipments were 9% higher than the same month in 2008, and TV panels were 8% higher than last April.
 
For the notebook PC application, shipments of 16:9 aspect ratio panels reached 3.6 million, 28% of the 12.7 million notebook panels shipped, up from 24% in March.
 
Shipments of 15.6" notebook panels reached the same level as 15.4" panels. In monitors, 16:9 panels reached 6.1 million units, a 38% share of the 15.8 million monitor panels shipped, up from 28% in March.
 
Meanwhile, 32" TV panel shipments reached 4 million units in April, and 42" TV panel shipments passed 1 million units for the first time since last October.
 
Mini-note panel shipments were 3.1 million in April, up 14% sequentially; HannStar continued to be the leader in mini-note panel shipments.
 
“April results are encouraging for panel makers, as they reflect a healthy recovery in demand,” said David Hsieh, VP of DisplaySearch. “Considering the current end-market demand and the low panel inventories, we expect shipments will continue to grow in the second quarter, and we forecast panel makers will reach 80% capacity utilization.
 
 

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