DisplaySearch Releases Q4'99 and Calendar 1999 LCD Monitor Shipment Results: Digital LCD Monitor Shipments Soar in Q4

Business Wire, Feb 29, 2000

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 29, 2000

DisplaySearch, the leading source of market intelligence in the LCD monitor market, revealed Q4'99 and calendar 1999 LCD monitor, all-in-one LCD PC, LCD monitor OEM, LCD monitor module and LCD controller IC shipment results in its latest Quarterly Supply/Demand Study: Desktop Monitors.

Rapid Growth in 1999

In 1999, the LCD monitor market rose from 1.6% to 4.6% of the worldwide desktop monitor market on 244% growth to 4.49 million units. On a revenue basis, the LCD monitor market jumped from 5.3% to 15.4% on 233% growth to $5.4 billion. Driving the LCD monitor market was rapid adoption in Japan, where it filtered to the consumer level. In fact, in the second half of 1999, Japan's LCD monitor revenues exceeded its CDT monitor revenues. Also supporting adoption was acceptance in Europe and North America by early adopters, the early majority and specialized applications such as financial, retail and medical. By type, LCD monitors sold with a desktop PC as a bundle jumped 299% to account for 34% of the worldwide market while stand-alone LCD monitors rose 221%. By region, Europe enjoyed the highest Y/Y growth at 293%. For the year, 15" LCD monitors rose from 44% to 70% of the worldwide total while 18" LCD monitors rose from 2% to 6%.

The top 10 suppliers on a revenue basis for 1999 are shown in Table 1. As indicated, NEC (NEC Home Electronics NEC Corp.) remained the top supplier with over a 20% market share and $1.1 billion in revenues on 209% revenue growth. NEC was the top supplier in Japan and North America and No. 2 in Europe. NEC was also No. 1 at 14.1", 18" and 20". Fujitsu maintained the No. 2 position with nearly $580 million in revenues on 271% revenue growth. Fujitsu was No. 2 in Japan for all of 1999 and No. 1 worldwide at 15". Mitsubishi jumped from No. 6 in 1998 to No. 3 in 1999 on 296% revenue growth. It was ranked No. 3 in Japan on a unit basis and No. 2 at 14.x". Eizo Nanao maintained the No. 4 position on 205% revenue growth. It finished No. 2 worldwide at 18". Samsung rose from No. 9 to No. 5 on 436% growth. It was No. 1 in Europe on a unit basis and No. 3 worldwide at 15."

Table 1:

1999 Revenues, Market Share and Growth for Top 10 LCD Monitor Suppliers

                 1999
 Company       Revenues              1999                  1999
            ($ in millions)      Market Share         Revenue Growth
             -------------       ------------         --------------
   NEC           1,102              20.30%                 209%
 Fujitsu          579               10.70%                 271%
Mitsubishi        279                5.20%                 296%
Eizo Nanao        259                4.80%                 205%
 Samsung          254                4.70%                 436%
  Compaq          222                4.10%                 270%
Viewsonic         205                3.80%                 238%
   IBM            204                3.80%                 95%
   Sony           189                3.50%                1310%
 Philips          156                2.90%                 346%
  Other          1,985              24.60%                 208%
             -------------       ------------         --------------
  Total          5,434               100%                  233%

Slow Growth in Q4'99

While the LCD monitor market enjoyed rapid growth in 1999, it slowed considerably in Q4'99 due to high street prices and increases in channel inventories. In Q4'99, the worldwide LCD monitor market rose just 1% sequentially and 100% Y/Y to 1.23 million units. On a revenue basis, the LCD monitor market rose 7% sequentially and 124% Y/Y to $1.625 billion. In regards to street pricing, 3 LCD monitor sizes experienced sequential average price decreases, 2 sizes were flat and 4 sizes experienced sequential price increases. In the case of the dominant 15" LCD monitor market, despite early indications that average 15" LCD monitor prices would fall in Q4'99, average 15" street prices actually rose 4% as manufacturers introduced an increasing number of high-end, feature-rich products in November and December. The high prices caused stand-alone LCD monitor shipments to decline for the first time on a sequential basis while LCD monitors sold as a bundle with desktop PCs rose 2% to account for 34% of the Q4'99 total. Each major region enjoyed sequential growth in Q4'99 except for Japan which fell by 6%. The Japanese share of the worldwide LCD monitor market fell from 51% to 48% while Europe's share rose from 29% to 31%. By size, 15" LCD monitors rose from 72% to 75% on a unit basis while 18" rose from 7% to 8%. By application, the retail/POS market was the single largest market with a 28% share followed by small business at 16% and financial and home office at 15%. By interface type, "digital only" shipments rose nearly 140% on a sequential basis to account for over 28% of total shipments, up from 12%. Driving the digital interface market was the acceptance of the DVI standard, rapid adoption by bundled LCD monitor suppliers, superior performance and low cost.