Competition between Taiwan's top two LCD panel makers, AU Optronics (AUO) and Innolux, has heated up as they strive to outrace each other in sales to become the top vendor in the local display industry, according to market sources.

AUO had been the top vendor for five years till the end of 2020 in terms of revenues.

However, the rankings of the two firms changed in the first five months of 2021 when Innolux managed to ramp up its sales by 56.36% on year to NT$145.56 billion (US$5.2 billion) compared to AUO's gain of 51.34% to NT$144.66 billion.

James Yang, president of Innolux, attributed the increased sales to the firm's ability to cash in on the emerging end-market demand supporting pandemic-triggered stay-at-home activities and create value-added products through the corporate transition.

According to industry sources, Innolux' venture into the assembly and sales of TV sets in addition to its previous offerings of open-cell products and LCM modules also significantly ramped up its sales performance.

In terms of area shipments, Innolux is also expected to outperform AUO in 2021, as the former is likely to roll out 38.9 million square meters of LCD panels in the year compared AUO's 35.4 million square meters, according to an industry estimate.

However, it remains to be seen whether Innolux can continue to maintain its leading position as the current sale gap between the two firms is quite narrow, said the sources.

Besides, AUO has kicked off a multiple-prong scheme to build a high value-added ecosystem and stay competitive amid changing industry environments, added the sources.

By DIGITIMES