#CONSUMER: "Report: touch panels grow 30 percent y/y"

Touchscreen module shipments are going through the roof with better than 30 percent growth last year and even brighter prospects for 2010, with 6.3 million units shipped in the first half. Manufacturing from 32 suppliers is on track for 20 million units in the second half of 2010, according to DisplaySearch LLC (Santa Clara, Calif.) Look for 2011 to be a record year for all sectors of touchscreen module sales. R. Colin Johnson @NextGenLog


Top five out of 32 touch screen suppliers of the 6.3 million modules shipped in the first half of 2010, which will grow to 20 million in second half, according to DisplaySearch.

Boosted in recent years by smartphones, and in 2010 by the iPad and the legions of copycats piggybacking on Apple's success, touchscreens are also soaring in mini-notebooks an in novel new form-factors, such as the enTourage Pocket eDGe which features both an LCD touchscreen and and E-Ink reflective display. Taiwan touchscreen suppliers lay claim to the lion's share--43.5 percent in 2009--especially in advanced capacitive, as opposed to resistive, touchscreens. China however is nipping at Taiwan's tail, with forecasted shipments increasing 39 percent in 2010, mostly for legacy resistive touchscreens. Both U.S. and European manufacturers are also reporting record-high shipments in 2010, but Japanese touchscreen suppliers, on the other hand, are reporting flat growth in 2010 due to the strength of the Yen, according to DisplaySearch.
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