Chinese Manufacturers Now Have Almost 3/4s Of Flat Panel Display Market: DSCC

February 26, 2024 by Dave Haynes

You have undoubtedly read or at least heard plenty of stories about how the display market shifted first from Japan to Korea, and more recently from Korea to China, and this new data from the analyst firm Display Supply Chain Consultants really backs that up.

China’s share of the display glass market – LCDs and OLEDs – now exceeds 70%, according to DSCC’s latest Display Glass Report.

A view of the market by region demonstrates the increasing dominance of the display industry by China panel makers and the shrinking relevance of Korea in the display glass market.

Ten years ago, Korea was the largest region for glass demand, and Korea’s share was 27% at the beginning of 2018 … but hit a low point of only 5% of the glass market in Q1’23. China’s portion of worldwide display glass demand, which was only 40% in Q1’18, increased to an estimated 71% in 2023, with growth in new capacity and shutdowns of Korea capacity.

DSCC also suggests a slow market has recovered in terms of volume, but more declines are ahead.

After a 10% Y/Y decline in 2022, display glass shipments stabilized in 2023 and recorded a 2% increase Y/Y in volume terms. Glass shipments declined 10% in Q4’23 as LCD demand softened and are expected to decline another 5% Q/Q in Q1’24 before slowly recovering through the rest of the year.

Says DSCC of its for-fee report:

The Display Glass Report tracks glass capacity and shipments for all major glass makers across all LCD and OLED display fabs. The report combines DSCC’s comprehensive insight into industry capacity and utilization with an in-depth understanding of display glass and the supply chain. The report outlines capacity by region in each of the four regions of display glass production: Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea, and covers glass shipments in Gen sizes from 1 to 10.5. The report details glass shipments for the three major suppliers to the display industry, Corning, AGC and NEG, along with other glass suppliers. The report includes a supply matrix covering 26 panel makers.