LCD Panel Supply Lead Time is Increasing

Japan is still recovering from the damaged caused by the earthquake. See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-16/japan-s-quake-may-hurt-battery-semiconductor-wafer-lcd-panel-markets.html. The loss of life is very sad and tragic.

What we are finding is that for the first few weeks after the earthquake, lead time and cost of LCD’s has changed very little. However, in the last two weeks this has changed.

• LCD display modules Lead times have increased by two weeks.
• LCD cost has increased by an estimated 8%.
• Tooling for custom LCD’s has not changed much, but MOQ of customized LCD’s has increased.

We are holding safety stock of standard character LCD’s including:

• 16×2 STN yellow/green LED backlight.
• 20×2 STN yellow/green LED backlight wide temperature range.
• 16×1 STN yellow/green LED backlight.
• Standard alphanumeric (character) displays.

The majority of static displays are considered custom LCD modules and we do not carry inventory for these. Small LCD’s are easier for us to hold in inventory due to lower shipping cost and they take up less room in the warehouse.