Display Taiwan 2009: Global Glass Market to Increase 5-10% in 2009, Says Corning

While the global TV market will decrease 3%, the LCD TV market will continue to grow to 121 million units this year from 102 million units in 2008, Eusden said.Growth drivers include shortening purchase cycles, dropping retail prices and rapidly improving technologies. Corning also forecasts a 3% decline in notebook sales and a 13% decline in monitor sales for 2009.



"We are confident that long-term drivers and trends favor the continued rapid adoption of LCD, the dominant technology now and for the foreseeable future. With more than two billion TVs worldwide, and only 13% of those currently LCD, there’s a lot of room to grow," said Eusden.



Amid the recent tight LCD glass supply in the industry, Eusden said that Corning will continue to manage capacity based on its projection of the end market.



Corning said it has restarted some of the idle tanks earlier than its original schedule, but it declined to reveal the original time frame.



Eusden indicated that glass supply will remain tight until the end of the third quarter, while the overall LCD supply chain will remain tight until the end of 2009.



Despite the rising demand in the industry, Corning said it will closely monitor the supply chain and maintain a supply-demand balance to avoid oversupply, as demand is expected to drop in the fourth quarter due to seasonality.



Display Taiwan 2009 is the only exhibition Corning will attend in Asia this year. The company is showcasing its Jade glass for advanced display and its green product Eagle XG glass substrate, as well as its Gorilla glass.