Study: Plasma Shipments Fall 12% in Q4 2008

Shipments of plasma display panels (PDPs) fell 8 percent quarter-over-quarter (Q/Q) and 12 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) to 3.8 million units in Q4 2008, the first Y/Y decline since Q2 2007, according to DisplaySearch.

According to the study, total shipments for 2008 reached 15.1 million for a 26 percent increase from 2007. PDP shipments rose 37 percent Y/Y to 4.2 million units in Q3.

Panasonic was the only manufacturer to experience Y/Y unit growth in Q4 2008, expanding its unit share to 47 percent. Total revenues for plasmas fell 13 percent Q/Q and 21 percent Y/Y in the fourth quarter. Annual revenues, however, grew 6 percent in 2008.

"The 2008 plasma panel shipment result of 15.1 [million] is very close to what we expected. A yearly growth rate of 26% also looks quite good," says YS Chung, DisplaySearch director of display technology and materials.

"In addition, 1080p PDP share is increasing, led by Panasonic, and improves plasma's competitiveness against LCD. However, due to the demand reduction brought about by the economic crisis and manufacturing line shut downs by each plasma panel maker, it is hard to expect optimistic results for 2009 PDP shipments."

Other findings of the study:

• 1080p plasmas grew to a record 25 percent of total shipments with 960K units
• Shipments of 50-inch plasmas fell from 29 percent to 27 percent in Q4 '08
• Shipments of 42-inch plasmas grew from 49 percent to 53 percent in the same period

Panasonic was the top plasma supplier in 2008 with a 36 percent unit share, followed by Samsung SDI (29 percent) and LGE (27 percent). Hitachi and Pioneer plan on withdrawing from plasma module production in the first half of 2009, according to DisplaySearch.

Plasma Panel Revenue Share and Growth by Supplier

Rank	Supplier	Q3 '08 Share	Q4 '08 Share	Y/Y Growth
1	Panasonic	39.8%	49.9%	1%
2	Samsung SDI	29.4%	26.1%	-20%
3	LGE	21.9%	15.8%	-47%
4	Pioneer	4.7%	4.2%	-29%
5	Hitachi	4.1%	3.9%	-50%
6	Orion	0.1%	0.1%	-22%
	Total	100%	100%	-21%