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CSoT and BOE Still Competing to Get Control of CEC Panda’s LCD Capacity
June 29, 2020
 
Over the last few weeks reports that CEC Panda was for sale with both BOE and CSoT mentioned as possible buyers of the whole company or of individual fabs.  In terms of worldwide LCD capacity, a combined Panda/CSoT entity would have a 15.2% share of the LCD market, while Panda/BOE would have a 24.5% share. BOE already has an interest in Panda’s IGZO technology, which Panda licensed from Sharp. BOE uses IGZO backplanes to produce 13.3” and 15.6” (~15 models), while Panda’s IGZO production ranges from 4.7” to 70” TV panels. CSoT does not use IGZO technology, which makes Panda acquisition quite attractive if the IGZO license agreement moves with it. LGD uses IGZO for its large area OLED production and Innolux produce some panels with IGZO backplanes, but Sharp and Panda are by far the biggest producers using that technology in the LCD world. With the increasing interest in LTPO to reduce power consumption on variable refresh rate displays, IGZO expertise and IP is of increasing value.