Low-temperature polysilicon continues to increase its share in small and medium-sized panels

The market for small and medium-sized TFT panels will continue to maintain a steady growth in the next few years. The overall market growth rate was 39% in 2010, and is expected to slow down to 14% in 2011. The growth rate is gradually slowing down, which is mainly due to the downturn in the global economy. By 2012, the global economy began to recover, and the economies of Europe and the United States were repaired. In 2012, the growth rate will rise like large-sized panels, and is estimated to grow by 30%. DisplaySearch believes that "around 2014, when the smartphone market continues to maintain rapid growth, although the growth rate will slow down, it will still maintain a high growth rate of more than double digits, and then turn to single-digit growth."

However, if we exclude organic EL panels and e-paper, the growth rate of TFT LCD panels alone will be lower than the overall level of small and medium-sized TFT panels. The average annual growth rate of small and medium-sized TFT LCD panels was 5% in 2011 and will reach 21% in 2012. In addition, if new applications are developed in the future or the screen size is enlarged in a certain product, the growth rate of TFT LCD panels will exceed DisplaySearch's long-term forecast for the small and medium-sized TFT panel market.

In the small and medium-sized TFT LCD panel market, the demand for low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD panels is increasing, mainly for smartphones. In 2011, the area share of low-temperature polysilicon in the small and medium-sized TFT LCD panel market will increase from 22% in 2010 to 25%. It will continue to grow in the future, and is estimated to reach 30% and 32% in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Among the uses of low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD panels, smartphones account for an overwhelming share, and it is estimated that the share will surge from 53% in 2010 to 73% in 2011, and will increase to 78% and 84% in 2012 and 2016 respectively. Other uses include game consoles, digital cameras, and portable media players.

At present, low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD panels are expected to be partially equipped in tablet terminals. However, the IPS LCD method, which already uses more processes, will further increase the number of processes if low-temperature polysilicon TFT processes are added, and the cost will be higher. Therefore, in the current forecast, DisplaySearch has not included the demand for low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD panels for tablet terminals. In addition, panel manufacturers are promoting the development of oxide semiconductor TFT LCD panels for tablet terminals, and mass production is scheduled for the first half of 2012.

The market share of low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD panels tends to increase, and the supply and demand balance is relatively tight in 2011. However, the production capacity is expected to increase after 2012, and it is estimated that the tight supply and demand situation will be eased by then. Due to the price advantage of polysilicon over monocrystalline silicon, it will maintain a good development space in the next few years.