In ten years flat panel displays (FPD) are expected to have 98% of the large and growing electronic display market worldwide, valued at $79 billion in 2006. Liquid crystal displays (LCD) have over 80% of the FPD market today and will remain the leader for the next ten years due to continuous innovation, an established supply chain and aggressive pricing strategies for chemicals.

Flat Panel Display Chemicals and Materials, a special report released today by SRI Consulting (SRIC), analyzes the skyrocketing growth in FPD and its impact on chemical suppliers over the next ten years. The report describes the leading FPD chemical markets, trends, opportunities and success factors for all the major regions worldwide including extensive coverage of companies and manufacturing capabilities. The report also contains comprehensive information about technologies and applications with focus on the leading flat panel display technologies: liquid crystal displays (LCD), plasma display panels (PDP) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels, along with information on promising emerging technologies such as field emission and flexible displays.

SRIC data show that LCD panels established an early lead among FPD and remain dominant with a 77% share this year on a visual area basis. The growth of LCD panels is due to their rapid incorporation into consumer, business and industrial applications. The success of LCDs has been facilitated by advancements in LCD chemicals such as glass substrates and functional films. Liquid crystals alone have over a $1 billion market worldwide. Over the next five years, LCDs are expected to grow from 39 million to 84 million square meters of visual area, or an average of 17% annually.

R.J. Chang, Assistant Director of SRIC’s Specialty Chemicals Update Program (SCUP) commented, “The FPD chemical market amounted to $33.3 billion last year and is expected to grow to $76 billion by 2017. LCD chemicals account for about 88% of the FPD chemicals used today. From 2012 to 2017 LCD chemicals growth will decline to about 2% annually as applications for newer technologies such as OLEDs enter the market.”

The Flat Panel Display Chemicals and Materials report also examines future trends such as the development of multifunctional films and materials and the incorporation of inkjet wet processing; both are expected to significantly decrease production costs.

Yosuke Ishikawa, lead author of the report and Senior Consultant at SRIC commented: “The displacement of CRTs with LCD panels is the major positive driver of the FPD industry. The most influential factor in the emergence of LCD as the technology leader was the rapid decline in prices for chemicals and materials.”

Mr. Ishikawa, a veteran industry observer, added, “LCD will continue to have an advantage as countries adopt digital broadcasting and/or high definition TV. Displays will need to contain a high number of pixels, which today’s LCDs can provide. OLED displays will replace LCDs in some applications like mobile phones, but the main driver for OLED growth will be its potential of lower energy consumption.”

The FPD Chemicals and Materials report contains over 450 pages of information combining government information with independent research data obtained directly from major industry organizations.

For additional information about Flat Panel Display Chemicals and Materials report, please contact RJ Chang at +1 650 384 4320 or rchang@sriconsulting.com. Also visit SRI Consulting’s website at www.sriconsulting.com for a complete offering of reports.