TFT-LCD polarizer market estimated to grow to $10.15 billion in 2011

Castro Valley, CA--In addition to forecasting that the polarizer market--estimated at $9.2B in 2010--is forecasted to grow to $10.15B in 2011, the newly updated Polarizer and Optical Films Industry Trend Analysis from Displaybank says that LG Chemical would secure its No.1 position in the large-area TFT-LCD polarizer market in 2010. LG Chemical is at the top with 30.7% market share followed by Nitto Denko at No.2 with 27.3% share and Sumitomo Chemical at No.3 with 22.5%.

As value-added polarizer demand rises including polarizer for LEDs and 3D displays and Touch Panel applications, market share of the top 3 makers shows continuous growth. Irene Heo, senior analyst at Displaybank, said, "The industry dependence towards these top 3 polarizer makers will continue to go up in 2011 as the makers have manufacturing know-how for value-added films and also secure higher price competitiveness against other makers."

As new line operation and decreased demand during the second half of 2010 led to a drop in polarizer prices, the overall polarizer market in 2010 is expected to reach $9.2B, slightly lower than previous expectation and in terms of area-basis, the market is expected to grow 24% from 2009 to 320 million square meters in 2010.

By major application, the TV-use polarizer market would reach $4.95B (corresponds to 54%) in 2010 and Monitor-use polarizer at $2.08B and Notebook-use polarizer at $1.07B. In terms of area-basis, TV-use polarizer reaches 200 million square meters which translates into 63% of the total market.

SOURCE: Displaybank; www.displaybank.com/eng/report/report_show.php?id=15