HDTV Market to Surge in 2013 Despite Only Modest Growth in 2012

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

HDTV Market to Surge More Than 10% in 2013 to over $14.2 Billion, Despite Only Modest Growth in 2012

FARMINGTON, Conn. — During much of the first half of 2012, revenue from the LCD HD television segment – the most widespread HDTV technology in the world – remained poor. While some of this could be blamed on weaker than expected consumer demand and over-saturation, the primary problem for LCD manufacturers has been the rise of ultra-low cost production in places such as China, which has undercut already meager margins on LCD screens. Furthermore, falling costs on alternate technologies including LED, OLED, and 3D TVs, is also leading some consumers away. In fact, with the exceptions of Samsung and LG Electronics, which benefit from a more competitive pricing model, every other supplier, including Sharp, Toshiba, and Sony, all turned in losses in their respective LCD HDTV segments during the first half of the year. However, heading into the second half of the year, increased consumer spending and the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons suppliers are now focusing on these higher margin new technologies.

New market research from Global Information Inc partner publisher Databeans offers valuable insight on this shift in market behavior, providing CEOs, investors, suppliers, marketers, product managers, and manufacturers with the information they need to reliably forecast and plan their business in this turbulent industry.

Consumer Analog Market Tracker

One HDTV product category expected to witness growth in the immediate future will be ultra-premium OLED sets. Samsung, the global HDTV OEM leader, will be the first to introduce a 55-inch OLED Smart TV (the ES9500) sometime in the second half of this year with a retail price tag of more than $9000. LG, the second largest player, will also follow with its own 55-inch set in the second half of the year. LG, however, believes that its well-positioned to surpass Samsung with its flat-screen white OLED TV technology, which it claims to be two years ahead of its competitor, as well as significantly cheaper. Meanwhile, some rival TV manufacturers are now scrambling to develop their own OLED-based HDTVs, and get these out on the market as soon as possible.

Databeans expects that while HDTV sales will slightly recover during 2012 as a whole, the market will see substantial growth starting in 2013. For one, LED screens will receive a boost from newer lower-cost direct-LED backlight models. While still slightly bulkier than edge-lit LEDs, the direct-lit LED models will attract more price-conscious consumers in emerging regions with their much lower retail prices. On the opposite end of the spectrum, ultra-premium OLED and Smart TVs will attract consumers in established markets looking to upgrade. It is projected that total global semiconductor revenue for Televisions will grow from just over $12.7 billion in 2012 up to more than $14.2 billion in 2013. Over the next five years the market should grow at a healthy tick of 11 percent annually on average.

2011 Analog Market Share (2012 Report)

Coming out of the global semiconductor industry-wide downturn, most suppliers of analog chips are now leaner and more competitive and, consequently, are ready to pounce on returning consumer and business demand over the next year or two. Specifically, many analog players have made significant changes to their business structures in order to lower their operational costs and increase their profits and margins.

Meanwhile, other suppliers, such as Texas Instruments, have made large scale acquisitions in order to broaden their customer base, acquire new products, and narrow the competition. In terms of individual players Texas Instruments remained the leader in the analog industry in 2011 acquiring analog rival National Semiconductor and cementing its leadership role. Meanwhile, Europe’s largest chipmaker, STMicroelectronics, remained the second largest player and with TI’s further gains in this industry it is likely that ST will remain the second largest player for some time to come. Infineon, Europe’s other large chipmaker, remained the third largest player of the global analog share followed very closely by Analog Devices. Finally, Qualcomm rounded out the top five suppliers of overall worldwide analog market share.

2012 Analog Integrated Circuits

For 2012, expect analog IC product revenue to be up by around 3 percent, representing a modest but significant increase over last year. Growth will be seen in communications and consumer electronics segments especially, driven by the higher demands for handsets and portable devices, and by the increasing manufacturing consumption originating from the Asia Pacific region. The Asia Pacific region continues to grow in share relative to the global analog market, at the expense of other regions, and especially as production continues to move away from the Americas. This report covers market share by region and also differentiates between general purpose and special purpose analog.