The Popularization of LCD TV: How Fast Can Its Price Go Down

• Main Authors: Po-sheng Fan, 范博昇
• Other Authors: Chu-tao J. Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/39110141715406204644

碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 工業工程與工程管理學系 === 92 === When the first generation TFT-LCD manufacturing equipment had been set up in Japan in 1990, a wave of technological developments of flat panel display for personal computers has begun with great potential to replace the traditional cathode-ray (CRT) display. The most representative example is monitors for personal computers which are changed from CRT to TFT-LCD gradually. This trend of replacement is much more obvious in recent years than before. Two factors can explain this phenomenon: first, the maturity of technology increased and achieved the stage of replacement; second, TFT-LCD firms in Taiwan and Korea invested new generation manufacturing equipments aggressively and competitively. Therefore, we expect that this kind of replacement will also happen to TV market, and the greatly expended capacity in Taiwan and Korea will also drive LCD TV’s price down. Most electronic commodities’ prices go down quickly after they enter the market, but LCD TV is an exception. After entering the market several years its price is still very expensive that most people cannot afford it. Why does its price not go down fast as other electronic commodities’? If its price has not gone down as quickly as others’, what would the trend be like? Or, will there be other factors that can induce price crash? This research is trying to answer these questions. Because of huge expense of TFT-LCD capital assets, we focus on their depreciation. Using different methods to calculate the depreciation expenses of capital assets, this research finds that “Equipment” plays an important role in cost declining process. More than 80 percent of the depreciation expense comes from “Equipment”. So, with the depreciation expense of equipment going down, the unit cost of LCD TV-use panel will have more opportunities to go down, which will take 2-5 years. To accentuate, this calculation is based only on the depreciation of capital assets, and other factors are assumed unchanged. So it is possible that LCD TV’s price can go down even faster than we predict in this research.