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TG Daily: Panasonic announced yesterday that all of their new plasma display panels (PDPs) would not contain lead oxide, claiming it has become the first company to achieve such a milestone. The electronics manufacturer says that with the elimination of lead, the displays don’t weigh as much, and are more environmentally friendly, without compromising picture quality.

The conventional way of producing PDPs required lead oxide glass for a handful of the components inside, and other “structural elements”, according to Panasonic. It’s also crucial for getting the best possible picture quality by optimizing the softening points of each material in the display.

However, Panasonic has circumvented this need by developing new materials that have the same sort of characteristics and reliability as lead oxide, without actually using any lead.

Panasonic says that it started using this process in spring 2006, with the introduction of its first new plasma TV lineup for the year. Since then, the company claims it has avoided the use of lead products for all new 2006 models, even including the 103-inch plasma HDTV it showed earlier in October.

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Dow Jones, Tokyo: Samsung has said this morning that it will fight Pioneer’s law suit that alleges it violated Pioneer’s patents related to plasma display panel technology.

Pioneer had been negotiating with Samsung on the use of its patents since April 2005.

“We are not using their patents,” a Samsung SDI spokesman said, adding that the law suit filed at a U.S. district court in Texas “is not a big deal.”

Samsung SDI is a flat-panel television-making subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co.

Pioneer said it decided to seek a court order to rule on Samsung SDI’s sales and compensation for past infringements after negotiations with Samsung SDI fell apart. Pioneer hasn’t announced the amount of compensation it is seeking, a company spokeswoman said.

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DigiTimes: China-based Changhong Electric and IRICO Group Electronics have started constructing a PDP (plasma display panel) plant in the Mianyang Economic and Technological Development Zone in Sichuan Province.  The plant will start operations in March 2008, with related technology to be provided by South Korea-based Orion PDP.

The companies will invest 5 billion yuan in construction, and the plant will have a monthly capacity of 180,000 42-inch equivalent PDP modules, with the main products being 42- and 50-inch plasma modules.

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Digitimes: Shipments of plasma display panels (PDPs) amounted to 1.018 million units in July of this year, breaking the one million mark, according to Displaybank.

This increase is attributed to the steady investments in capacity expansion by PDP makers and their aggressive moves to stretch capacity targeting the second half of 2006.

Source: Displaybank

In terms of sales breakdown by size, the 40- to 49-inch range comprised the bulk at 74.4% of total shipments in July 2006, followed by the 50- to 59-inch segment with 21.7%. The share of the 50-inch range surged 6.7% compared with 15% in January. Displaybank anticipates that the 50- to 59-inch segment will further increase in the second half and reach 30% by the end of 2006.

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DigiTimes: Worldwide plasma shipments rose 95% on year to 2.2 million units in the second quarter of 2006.  Plasma screens now hold 5% of worldwide TV shipments, according to DisplaySearch.

Panasonic was the top plasma brand for at least eighth consecutive quarters. Its share surged from 22% to 28% by growing more than 70% in shipments, which was nearly three times faster than any other top five PDP TV brands.

PDP TV revenues increased with a more modest 23% on quarter and 57% on year to US$4.9 billion last quarter, as the range of price reduction outpaced that of the increase in average size. PDP TVs accounted for 20% of the global TV revenues, up from 18% in the first quarter of 2006.

North America overtook Europe and became the top region in PDP TV shipments for the first time on stronger demand for larger-size models, resulting in a 32-34% share advantage. North America dominated the 50-inch PDP TV market, accounting for 63% of all 50-inch PDP TVs sold worldwide in the second quarter of 2006.

By size, the 42-43-inch category remained dominant although the share of the segment fell from 78% to 73% on gains by 37- and 50-inch PDP TVs.

Global Top 5 Plasma Suppliers: Unit Share and Growth, 2Q06

1. Panasonic: 28.3%
2. LGE: 17.1%
3. Samsung: 13.6%
4. Philips/Magnavox: 10.3%
5. Hitachi: 7.4%
6. Others: 23.2%

Source: DisplaySearch, August 2006.

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