The current oversupply in the flat panel display industry will persist throughout the full year 2023 and will slowly correct thereafter, according to the latest update of DSCC’s Quarterly FPD Supply/Demand Report, updated last week. We covered the demand portion of this report in an article last week, and this week we will describe our supply forecast and the resulting supply/demand balance.
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In the latest issue of DSCC’s Quarterly Display Capex and Equipment Market Report, total LCD and OLED equipment spending remained relatively flat on a move-in basis despite a number of delays and cancellations. These fab schedule changes were mostly offset by higher spending for G8.5-G8.7 FMM VTE systems. 2020 -2025 spending fell just 0.2% vs. last quarter to $71.2B, while fine metal mask vacuum thermal evaporation (FMM VTE) spending rose from 10% to 12% of 2021-2025 spending, rising 18% from our last issue and overtaking exposure as the leading equipment segment over this period. The higher spend on FMM VTE tools is a result of a shift to larger substrates, full G8.5 and ½ G8.6-G8.7, as well as tandem stack adoption which boosts efficiency, brightness and lifetime and improves the OLED outlook in IT markets. Market leader Canon Tokki is a significant beneficiary of the higher tandem FMM VTE prices. By technology vs. last quarter from 2020-2025, our LCD outlook was reduced by 1% while our OLED outlook was increased by 1%.
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DSCC has released its latest update of our Advanced TV Display Cost Report, with updates to OLED and LCD cost profiles. This quarter’s edition includes updates to all sizes of WOLED panels and 55”+ LCD sizes including LCD with MiniLED backlights, and cost profiles for 55” and 65” QD-OLED panels from SDC.
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LCD TV panel prices have reached all-time lows but they continue to decline, and although the pace of decline is slowing in the third quarter, we now forecast that the industry will have an “L-shaped” recovery in the fourth quarter. In other words, no recovery at all until 2023. The ‘perfect storm’ of a continued oversupply, near-universally weak demand and excessive inventory throughout the supply chain has combined, and every screen size of TV panel has reached an all-time low price. Although fab utilization has slowed sharply in July, we do not see any signal to suggest that prices can increase any time soon.
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After a revenue spike in 2021 spurred by pandemic-fed demand and rising prices, flat panel display revenues are returning to earth in 2022 with a decline of 20%. Revenues are expected to return to growth in the coming years as displays remain a critical part of the modern world, and will grow to $152B in 2026, according to DSCC’s latest update to the Quarterly Flat Panel Display Forecast Report, released last week.
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The slowdown in display fab utilization that we predicted earlier this year is now in full swing and even more severe than we expected, according to the latest release of DSCC’s Quarterly All Display Fab Utilization Report issued last week. After a full year of panel prices falling with no end in sight, and after the entire display supply chain built excessive inventory, panel makers started to reduce utilization in Q2 and the slowdown has accelerated in Q3. In Q2’22, total TFT input for all display makers was down 6% Q/Q and down 2% Y/Y at 82.8M square meters, and in the current Q3’22 we expect total TFT input to be down another 11% Q/Q and 15% Y/Y to 74.0M square meters.
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As we continue to work on our latest LCD and OLED fab schedules, which should be published the week of July 25th, we already see a clear theme and that is delays in timing. This is a natural outcome of the Crystal Cycle when prices are low and companies are losing money, they push out new investments, which increase capacity. There is no doubt this makes sense at this time with fab utilization falling to 73% in Q3’22 to slow down price reductions. Panel suppliers added too much capacity in 2021 and 2022 expecting the demand pulled in during the pandemic to continue to increase.
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In the next few weeks, we will see the Q2 earnings announcements for flat panel display makers, starting with LG Display on Wednesday, July 27th. The most recent quarter marks a full year after the biggest profits in the history of the flat panel display industry in Q2’21, and the prospects for the industry could not be more different. Panel prices started to decline a year ago and have not stopped their decline, and even with lower prices the demand for panels has decreased. We expect that panel makers will report another quarter of declining margins for Q2’22 and expect several panel makers to report operating losses.
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In the recently released Advanced Smartphone Display Shipment and Technology Report, we reveal that 2022 OLED smartphone device revenue is expected to decline 1% Y/Y to $390B on a 4% Y/Y unit decline as a result of the macroeconomic headwinds, weakened consumer demand, persistent supply chain issues as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns in China and concerns regarding inventory product build up. Based on our supply chain sources, all of the major smartphone brands have reduced their OLED smartphone panel procurements for 2022 by single and double-digit percentages.
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Inventories of TV panels have risen to a level rarely seen in recent years. Along with this, the fab utilization rates of FPD manufacturers have fallen to near record lows, and the average LCD fab utilization rate, which reached 90% last year, fell below 75% in June 2022. It is difficult to foresee a recovery in demand while there are ongoing headwinds such as the Russia / Ukraine war and inflation. Therefore, display companies are likely to continue adjusting to lower demand for a while.
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