LCD panel makers in Taiwan, Japan and Korea have been
suffering. Despite the growing demand for LCDs the high number of panel makers
and new competition from China has resulted in tough price competition for
panel makers, to the point that many panel makers are no longer profitable.
In 2012 Samsung Electronics moved their LCD business units
into a separate entity. One report suggests that the Taiwanese have invested
$60 Billion in the LCD industry and seen a return of just $40 Billion. Some
Japanese makers, despite having superb technology, have seen recent losses in
some cases equal cumulative profits of the preceeding 5 to 10 years. . Restructuring is therefore afoot. In the last few weeks
Samsung purchased a 3% stake in Sharp. Japan Display Inc (JDI), puts together
small and mid sized LCD panel manufacture units from Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba,
focusing on automotive, cellphone and digital camera displays (not TV).