Toshiba is narrowing its LCD TV shipment gap with Sharp and is expected to exceed Sharp and rank second among Japan-based LCD TV vendors in 2010.
Toshiba's LCD TV shipments continue to increase, and the company expects to ship 13-14 million LCD TVs in 2010, beating Sharp's 11-12 million shipments for the year. LCD TV manufacturers such as TPV Technology and Compal Electronics are expected to benefit from the increasing shipments of Toshiba.
LCD TV vendors indicated that Korea-based Samsung Electronics and Japan-based Sony are doing well in their global LCD TV sales, with Samsung seeing good growth momentum for LED-backlit and 3D models, while Sony is making gains in emerging markets.
Vendors such as Sharp and Panasonic are the few remaining vendors continuing to release OEM orders to overseas manufacturers, but with dropping LCD TV shipments of Sharp due to the recent appreciation of the Japanese yen, it will be worth monitoring whether Sharp will increase it outsourcing orders in 2011.
Sharp used to outsource a small volume of LCD TV OEM orders to Sampo mainly for sales in the Taiwan market, and the company has recently reported plans to also outsource a small volume of LCD TV orders to Compal. In addition, LCD TV makers such as Compal are expected to land orders from Panasonic if it decides to release outsource orders.
Sharp has proposed a reduction of production utilization amid weaker-than-expected demand for panels in the third quarter of 2010. It should be monitored whether the weakening LCD TV demand will continue to increase outsourcing ratios. An impact on overall TV panel supply is expected when Sharp increases its outsourcing, the TV vendors added.