SAN FRANCISCO – The combination of accelerating PC unit growth, benign end-market PC pricing and falling component costs is creating a favorable operating environment for PC vendors, says Deutsche Bank Equity Research.
Recent IDC market data show worldwide PC shipment growth accelerated to 12.5% year-over-year in the second quarter, up 1.5 points sequentially.
DB believes PC unit growth will accelerate through the second half, and unit growth estimates will trend up as a result of continued strength in emerging markets, ongoing consumer strength and early signs of a corporate upgrade cycle.
In addition, stable PC pricing and declining component costs – DRAM, aggressive near-term hard disk drive pricing and excess CPU inventory – will translate into improving profitability for the sector, says the firm.
IDC data show that worldwide PC shipment growth on the rise, buffeted by continued robust demand in the Asia Pacific (up 20% over last year) and better-than-expected U.S. demand.
The company continues to believe PC unit growth will accelerate through year-end and expects consensus expectations for PC unit growth to trend toward 15%. Continued strength in emerging markets, consumer and the beginning stages of a corporate PC upgrade cycle in the second half will drive improving growth rates through year-end, says the firm.
HP remains the top vendor on a worldwide basis with 19.3% unit share, followed by Dell (16.1%), Lenovo (8.3%), Acer (7.2%) and Toshiba (4.1%). Dell was the top vendor in the U.S. with 28.4% market share, followed by HP (23.6%), Gateway (5.6%), Apple (5.6%), Toshiba (5.3%) and Acer (5.2%). Apple had a particularly strong quarter with growth of 26% year-over-year.
PC pricing remains benign despite the favorable component cost environment, DB says.
SAN JOSE, CA – The world flat panel displays market is set to exhibit a huge growth during the 2001-2010 period, registering sales in excess of $114.4 billion by 2010, says Global Industry Analysts Inc.
Japan and Asia-Pacific corner the largest share of the global FPD market, with a combined share estimated of more than 75% in 2006, says the firm. Asia-Pacific is forecast to emerge as the fastest growing FPD market with a CAGR of 23.5% during 2001-2010.
The plasma displays market is projected to be the major growth driver with a CAGR of 38.5% over 2001-2010.
Demand for various flat display types will remain bullish in the years ahead, according to Global Industry Analysts. The market researcher claims the demand for displays will come from integration in different end-use applications, including home entertainment systems and mobile phones.
Prices of LCDs and PDPs are sliding because of the huge investments made in fabrication capacities and advanced technologies, bringing in an increased demand for FPDs, the firm states.
LCDs are being increasingly used in notebook computers, desktop computers, cellphones, portable digital assistants and flat panel televisions with broadband compatibility. Leading electronics players including Samsung, Sharp and LG are channeling substantial resources into the production of these displays to suffice the continuously up-surging market demand, says the report.
However, the LCD market could face stiff competition from competitive flat panel displays such as organic light emitting diode (OLED) and field emission display (FED), says Global Industry Analysts.
Recently, small-size LCDs have been in short supply in major FPD markets across the globe, owing to an unprecedented demand for small-size panels in color cellphones apart from shortened supply of the large panels, continues the report.
Large-panel LCDs for desktop and notebook computers are trading at significantly low prices and prices are likely to fall further. Prices of large-area, thin-film-transistor LCDs dropped by significant amounts and are expected to continue dropping until demand recovers sharply.
ATLANTA – UP Media Group, parent company of Circuits Assembly, announced today that a 60-minute Webinar, Korea RoHS/ELV – What You Need to Know, will be held Aug. 14 at 12 PM EDT.
The Webinar will be presented by Michael Kirschner, president of Design Chain Associates LLC, and Junsik Yoon, an associate with Korean environmental firm Eco-Frontier.
The Webinar will help electronics and automotive companies understand and comply with Korea’s RoHS-, WEEE-, and ELV-like regulation when it goes in to force on Jan. 1.
Korea's Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical/Electric Products and Automobiles has elements of several EU directives such as RoHS, WEEE, ELV, and EuP, and has a short timeline and details that will not be officially published until fall.
Yoon’s presentation will describe the law, similarities and differences between it and the relevant European directives, and the implementation requirements for the Jan. 1 deadline. Kirschner will describe the steps to compliance OEMs must take to ensure compliance.
Registration for the event, which will include a Q&A session, costs $169 and is available online at www.pcbshows.com/webinars.
PALO ALTO – The LCD manufacturing equipment market topped $1.5 billion in 2006 and will reach $2.3 billion by 2013, Frost & Sullivan’s World LCD Manufacturing Equipment Markets reveals.
Improved HD and larger LCD televisions increase demand and drives the growth of the LCD manufacturing equipment market. Additionally, decreased panel prices have made LCD TVs more affordable, which will lead to phenomenal LCD TV growth, says Frost.
Despite the increase in panel sizes, the sales of older generation equipment will not come to a standstill as desktop monitors, cellphones and other electronics utilize smaller display sizes. Countries such as China will continue to see investment in older generation equipment as they manufacture large volumes of small-sized displays, says the research firm.
The market’s fierce competition leads to extreme price pressures, further compounded by the fall in glass substrates’ prices. Therefore, for equipment vendors to maintain profitability, they must manage cost structures and find new ways to control costs, concludes the firm.
EL SEGUNDO, CA – Global revenue for large-sized (10" or greater) LCD panels will rise to $66 billion this year, up 22.2% from 2006, says iSuppi Corp. This represents a 6% increase compared to iSuppli’s previous forecast.
iSuppli raised its forecast for large LCD shipments, citing rising demand, tightening supply and increasing prices.
Worldwide shipments are forecast to reach 353.8 million units, up 25.2% year-over-year. iSuppli previously predicted shipments of 350.1 million units.
Demand is rising from the major markets for such panels: televisions, desktop monitors and notebook PCs, says the research firm. Meanwhile, inventories remain under control. This combination of rising demand and constrained supply is causing overall panel prices to increase, says iSuppli.
This strength should continue during the coming years, says the company. The large LCD panel market is expected to expand to 597.6 million units by 2011, up 2% from iSuppli’s previous forecast. Revenue will reach $102 billion in 2011, up 6% from the prior prediction. This will mark the first year the global large-sized LCD panel market will exceed $100 billion, says the firm.
iSuppli has upgraded its forecast of global large-sized LCD-TV panel shipments in 2007 to 77.5 million units. The firm predicts LCD-TV panel shipments will rise to 180.45 million units in 2011, up 5% from the previous forecast.
The price gap has closed between 32-inch and 40/42-inch panels, which will contribute to higher consumer adoption rates of 40-inch and larger LCD TVs, says iSuppli.
A strong recovery in the desktop PC monitor market in the second and third quarters is expected to drive sales to 163.2 million units this year, up 14% year-over-year.
The notebook PC LCD panel market is expected to reach 99.6 million units in 2007 and 161.5 million units in 2011, driven by lower prices, the rise of wireless capabilities in portable computers and the shift to larger display sizes, says iSuppli.
BANNOCKBURN, IL – May rigid PCB shipments at North American fabricators fell 14.8%, while bookings dropped 12.2% from last year, according to the latest data from IPC.
The combined book-to-bill ratio remained just above parity at 1.01.
Shipments of all PCB types fell 14.5% compared to last year, and orders decreased 11.2%. Year to date, shipments are down 10.3%, and bookings are off 15.6%. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments are up 7.2%, and bookings are up 1.9%.
The book-to-bill for rigid PCBs dipped to 0.98. That means that for every $100 worth of boards sold, $98 worth were ordered. IPC says the ratio indicates rigid PCB sales over the next two to three months will likely continue at roughly the same level as in the first half of the year.
Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are down 10.9%, and bookings are down 17.7%. Sequentially, rigid shipments rose 6.7% and bookings increased 2.1%.
Flex circuit demand is on the rise, as the book-to-bill climbed to 1.32 in May. Shipments were down 10.1%, but bookings rose 2.9% year-over-year.
Year to date, flexible circuit shipments are up 0.7%, and bookings are up 23.8%. Shipments increased 15.7% over April, while bookings fell 0.4%.
