AUO: All notebook panels to have LED backlight by 2012

By 2011, the panel maker aims to almost quadruple its LED-backlit notebook panel shipments compared to the proportion it estimates for 2008.

Currently about 5-6% of panels shipped by AUO support LED backlighting, according to company senior VP and general manager of the IT display business group, Paul (Shuang-Lang) Peng. The company aims to grow the ratio to 20% in 2008, beating the estimated industry penetration of 10%. As the third-largest notebook panel supplier, AUO currently ships about 2.5-2.7 million panels per month, Peng detailed.

LED backlighting will penetrate beyond high-end notebook panels to other segments, Peng projected. Regarding the price premium of LED over conventional cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL)-based BLUs, he commented that the requirement for high-end notebooks to offer high-resolution, slimmer panels and more LED chips enlarges the price gap between LED and CCFL.

However, for the mainstream segment, the fewer LEDs required will narrow the price gap between the two backlighting technologies to US$10. Plus, as LED technology advances, the smaller the price gap will become, Peng stressed.

Based on an estimated 40-50 LED chips needed per notebook panel, AUO may require several hundreds of millions of LED chips to feed its demand, industry players commented.