Cutthroat LCD competition grinds to a halt

Some prices rising

The freefall in LCD prices is coming to an end, with forward contracts for the 12.1 inch notebook form factor rising for the first time. Prices for 14 and 15 inch monitors are stabilising, Stanford Resources analyst Sweta Dash revealed. Speaking at the firm's 15th annual Flat Information Displays conference, Dash noted that the "days of uncontrolled price cuts in the TFT-LCD supply chain are coming to an end in the final month of 1998. "By Q1 99, only the customer with the most buying power will be able to avoid a price increase for 12.1-inch producs. For the larger sizes we see a slowing of price cuts to $5 to $10 per quarter, rather than the $40 to $50 drops seen at the beginning of 1998." According to Stanford, the high-low price range for 12.1 inch displays for Q398 was $210 to $300, down from $230 to $325 in Q1, 1998. ®