TFT-LCD Market Rebounds

In recent years the TFT-LCD market, a key component in portable information and communications products, had experienced a supply glut and falling prices.
However, now, supply can no longer keep up with demand. Prices have stabilized, and the soaring value of the Japanese yen has boosted exports from Korea.
Korea's three TFT-LCD producers, which hold a 25% share of the world market, have recieved a flood of new orders in the second half of this year.
The volume of new orders at Samsung Electronics, which holds the top share of the world TFT-LCD market with 17%, has exploded, and the company's three production lines are now working round the clock at full capacity. Samsung estimates that its TFT-LCD output is now at least three times higher than it was at the beginning of this year.
Market analysts predicted that the world supply and demand would balance out by the end of this year but the demand would still be 10% higher than the available supply in 1999. Prices have also started to stabilize.
As Japanese producers are experiencing difficult times due to the strong yen and a sluggish economy, Korean makers' sales are expected to continue growing for a while.