AUO Says 2020 Shipments of 85-Inch TV Panels Doubled Year Over Year

Panel maker AU Optronics managed in 2020 to swing to a $121 million profit from a year-earlier loss, despite numerous industry headwinds, said CEO Paul Peng on a Q4 investor call Thursday. Components supply is “very tight,” and the availability of display glass “has been in deficit,” said Peng. Three major display glass providers, Asahi, Corning and Nippon Electric, “have been experiencing some issues with their factories starting from last year, through the beginning of this year,” he said. There’s also the “factor” of a labor shortage that’s “especially severe” in China, he said. AUO has been promoting automated “smart manufacturing” for the past six years, “so we are less vulnerable” to labor shortages, “but we will still have to work harder to address the issues” of tight components supplies, he said. Demand amid the COVID-19 stay-at-home economy “has been quite strong” for larger-screen TVs with higher resolution, said Senior Vice President James Chen. AUO’s 85-inch TV panel shipments doubled year over year in 2020, as did 8K panels, he said.