July 31, 2001

Economic worries seem to be very selective in Taiwan, as another sector of the nation's high-tech industry reports an antagonistic trend. The Ministry of Economic Affairs reported that the country's liquid crystal display (LCD) industry is expected to hit a record US$4.9 billion in production value in 2001.

Facing a 70% increase in production value over 2000, industry insiders say Taiwan's growing prominence in the industry has led the island to snap up 25.3% of the global market, propelled by the nation's IT industry.

LCD are the flat panel basic displays that are used in a variety of products ranging from big notebook PC displays to tiny display devices in mobile phones or digital clocks. Especially computer displays are expensive to manufacture, and Taiwan's maturing LCD industry has allowed the country's IT industry to become more self-reliant, as the industry has moved from just assembling LCE monitors from Japan-imported displays to creating their own LCD panels and key components.

Stepping up the value chain in a way that Taiwan companies gain more control over key components to match expertise and competitiveness in finished goods is essential, a ministry official commented the report, going on to predict that Taiwan's share of the global TFT-LCD market is expected to rise to over 30% by 2002. So, Taiwan's TFT-LCD suppliers would be well positioned to benefit from the 39% growth projected for the global LCD market in 2002. Boosting the market size to US$22 billion.

In 1999, Taiwan shared only 6% of the global market, becoming a world contender in a mere two years.