Taiwanese display panel manufacturers’output for the first half of 2015 was NT$422.274 billion, which compared with the output in the second half of 2014 of NT$486.98 was a 13.3% reduction, and a 5.2% reduction for the same period in 2014.

Taiwanese touch panel manufacturers’ output for the first half of 2015 was NT$91.747 billion, which compared with the output in the second half of 2014 of NT$119.935 was a 22.9% reduction and a 34.4 reduction from the same time period in 2014.

The output for panel related components for the first half of 2015 was NT$89.805 billion, which was a 25% reduction compared with the output of NT$119.736 for the second half of 2014 and an 8.3% reduction compared to the first half of 2014.

PIDA pointed out that the output shows signs of a downturn and a recession scenario and indicates that demand for panel related industries will not increase in 2015. This should be an alert for Taiwan’s panel related industries. Although the output is sluggish, recently touch panel technology has developed in a number of encouraging industries. Hopefully touch screen technology can continue to drive growth for smart devices.

(TR/Phi Sweeney)