Analysis: Flat panel market set to explode over next 3 years

Analysis: Flat panel market set to explode over next 3 years    The international flat panel display market is expected to register sales in excess of $114.4 billion by 2010, according to a trade report issued this week, and the Asian-Pacific region is expected to increase their portion of the market by nearly 24 percent over the same time frame.
   The plasma display portion of the market is projected in the Global Industry Analysts report to be the major growth driver of the overall flat panel market, increasing nearly 39 percent over 2001-2010. Other product segments independently analyzed by GIA include the liquid crystal displays, electroluminescent displays, organic light emitting diode displays, light emitting diode displays, vacuum florescent displays, field emissions displays as well as an 'other' category.
   Demand for the flat panel displays, according to the report, continues to rise dramatically as costs have fallen due to cheaper manufacturing and technological improvements.
   The LCD and plasma segments of the market are seeing particularly high rates of demand as uses beyond computer and television screens — such as cell phones — continue to grow.
   Leading electronics players — including Samsung, Sharp and LG — are channeling substantial resources into the production of these thin-paneled, lightweight displays to suffice the continuously up surging market demand, the report said. However, GIA warned, suppliers need to prevent the fluctuation in LCD prices that causes problems to end-users in fixing the prices to their products. Despite the possibility of the LCD segment facing stiff competition from competitive flat panel technologies such as organic light emitting diode and field emission displays, the increasing demand from major end-use industries will enable the LCD market to sail smoothly in the coming years, amidst ever-increasing competition.
   Apart from an increased expenditure on thin-film LCDs, companies are likely to enlarge their capital outlay towards increasing production capacities. Scaled up production volume is the key determinant of large panel market growth in the long run.