TV Demand ‘Resilient’ Amid In-Home Viewing With Virus: Corning CFO

Global TV demand for 2020 is expected to “remain resilient,” said Corning Chief Financial Officer Tony Tripeny on an investor call Tuesday: “In-home entertainment is more important than ever." TV sell-through unit sales increased slightly from the 2019 quarter, he said. Sales were better than in Q1, and “better than the industry anticipated,” he said. “Preliminary retail sell-through data for June and July indicate that demand recovery in China has held and that demand in North America remained robust, while emerging regions remained weak.” The company's display-glass sales declined 11.2% year over year to $753 million, and were about flat with Q1, said the CFO. Q2 display-glass production volume grew by low-single digits from Q1 because Gen 10.5 customers “bought more glass,” he said. The manufacturer long term isn’t “just counting on everybody buying more stuff,” said CEO Wendell Weeks. “We’re putting more Corning into the products people already buy.” Corning’s specialty materials business, which includes Gorilla Glass used in 8 billion devices globally, had a 13.5% sales increase, while the smartphone market declined, said Weeks. Samsung will be the first to use Corning’s “toughest” cover glass yet, Gorilla Glass Victus, on a smartphone “in the near future, he said.