Worldwide flat panel display equipment market plummeted 41% year over year in the first quarter of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, market research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) says.
It was also a 30% drop from the fourth quarter. The 29 listed companies combined posted revenues of US$1.511 billion in the first quarter, the research firm said.
COVID-19 prevented engineers from the equipment vendors to travel to factories, which was the main cause of the decline, DSCC said.
Engineers usually stay up to six months at their client’s factories.
However, there were companies that saw growth despite the limitations.
Applied Materials saw revenue growth of 5% in the first quarter from a year ago. Its market share jumped to 24% from 15%. It has been the world’s largest display panel equipment vendor for four-straight quarters as of the first quarter.
Ulvac and Wonik IPS both saw growth of 22% from a year ago as well.
AP Systems saw the worst drop of 63% but retained its market share of 6%.
In terms of quarter over quarter, South Korean vendors were seeing growth thanks to their focus on OLED, DSCC said. Some of their equipment also had faster installation times that minimized the impact from travel restrictions.
Meanwhile, 13 of the companies saw orders rise. Combined, they saw order rise 23% from a year go in the first quarter.
15 of the companies also saw their remaining orders rise 20% to US$2.5 billion.
