AU Optronics (AUO) plans to volume produce 15.4-inch widescreen panels next month, with Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HP) among the makers placing orders for the segment, according to market speculations.
With the orders from the two major PC brands, the monthly capacity of the segment from AUO stands a chance of exceeding 100,000 units initially, sources said.
Amid a trend of migrating to widescreen models for LCD monitors, panel makers have been pushing large-size widescreen panels (22-, 24- and 26-inch ones) as well as smaller models. Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), HannStar Display and LG.Philips LCD are pushing 17-inch widescreen panels, while Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) will launch 15.4- and 15.6-inch widescreen panels, the sources said. In addition, CMO may also launch 16-inch widescreen models should monitor makers be willing to adopt the segment, the sources noted.
Currently, LG.Philips LCD is mainly shipping is 17-inch widescreen panels to Apple while HannStar's 17-inch widescreen panels are shipped to customers, which include Lenovo, with the overall monthly output already reaching 400,000 units, the sources indicated.