Plasma prices set to plummet

THE LEADING FIRM making plasma display panels in the fourth quarter of last year (PDPs) continues to be Matsushita, maker research firm iSuppli said today.

That's largely because when people think plasma they think Panasonic, which is Matsushita's brand. While Matsushita did well, Korean manufacturers lost share because of intense competition from LCD displays.

That is to to say, with intensive competition from themselves.

Be that as it is, iSuppli analyst Riddhi Patel said that worldwide production of PDPs wil grow to 22.7 million units by 2011 from 13.4 million units this year. Last year, a total of 10 milion PDPs were made, worth $7.7 bilion. The rise and rise of LCD and microdisplay rear projection sets will make profitability of the PDP business a problem.

The table below shows ranking by percentage of unit shipments for panels themselves, not the TVs and other devices that use them.

Matsushita Panasonic	37.3%
LG Electronics	24.2%
Samsung SDI	21.1%
FHP	10.7%
Pioneer	6.8%

ASPs are falling at a 13 per cent CAGR and it's not just LCD competition that's causing that, Patel reckons. Larger, better fabs will boost production efficiencies and electronics and glass prices are set to fall. µ