Japanese quake may disrupt LCD supplies

LCD suppliers are expecting some impact from the Japanese quake

An earthquake has struck the Corning glass plant in Japan, suspending production and potentially delaying supply to makers of large-format LCDs and TVs.

Sweta Dash, senior director of LCD research at iSuppli, confirmed that the Shizuoka-based factory has suspended production, with some disruption of 32in and 40in panels as well as larger LCD TVs expected to result.

“This supply interruption will disrupt LCD production at Sharp’ s eighth-generation fab,” Dash said.

However, any problem in supply is expected to be minimal. All other LCD glass facilities operated by Corning and other glass manufacturers around the globe were unaffected by the quake.

“With glass suppliers increasing their output to meet rising demand for Christmas, the overall demand for this key raw material is expected to exceed demand by the start of the fourth quarter.”

ISuppli said Corning expects to restore its Shizuoka facility to full production win a few months.

“LCD glass supply has been in a state of oversupply since the second half of 2008.
After suffering a supply glut of 13 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008, conditions shifted dramatically in the first quarter of 2009 as panel makers idled many of their production lines in order to adjust to reduced demand,” the researcher said in a statement.

“This caused demand to exceed supply by 0.5 per cent in the first quarter.”

Strong panel demand from China’s TV market particularly increased undersupply to one per cent in Q2.

That shortage is expected to increase to two per cent in Q3, before reversing to a four per cent oversupply in the fourth quarter as panel demand cools following the holiday purchasing season, according to iSuppli.