Mainland TV companies to buy screens worth of USD 5.5 bln from Taiwan  

TAIPEI, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese mainland TV manufacturers are expected to purchase 30 million flat screens worth 5.5 billion U.S. dollars from Taiwan this year, a mainland industrial heavyweight said in Taipei Wednesday.

The TV companies will buy more large-sized screens this year, said Bai Weimin, vice president of the China Video Industry Association (CVIA), who led a delegation of senior managers from eight leading mainland TV producers to visit Taiwan.

The eight companies include Hisense, Haier, Skyworth, TCL, Changhong, Konka, Prima and Panda.

This is the third consecutive year that mainland TV manufacturers have come to the island to purchase flat screens.

Last year they bought 4.3 billion U.S. dollars worth of flat screens from Taiwan.

Over the past two years, the purchase volume has increased notably and high-end products have taken up a larger part of the deals, Bai said at a forum co-hosted by the CVIA and Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC).

In 2009, the average size of flat screens bought by mainland firms was 30.3 inches and it increased to 33.6 inches in 2010. This year it is likely to reach 39.5 inches, she said.

Large-sized LED screens and 3D screens have taken up almost half of the deals, she said.

"The successful cooperation in the past two years has made us believe that industries from the two sides can supplement each other and have great cooperation potential," she said.

Chih-kang Wang, TWTC chairman, told the forum that buying flat screens from Taiwan helped mainland TV producers avoid being overly reliant on Japan and the Republic of Korea.

"With the deals with Taiwan firms, mainland TV producers have avoided depending on supply from Japanese and Korean companies," he said.

Last year about 36 million sets of flat screen TVs were sold in the mainland market and this year the figure is likely to reach 40 million.

About 75 percent of flat screen TV sets sold in the mainland were produced by the six largest mainland TV firms and half of the screens they used were from Taiwan, Wang said.

Besides the efforts to secure the screen deals, mainland TV producers are also looking for new cooperation chances with Taiwan firms to develop intelligent TVs.

Intelligent TVs will be the next wave of technologies to hit the market, Bai said.

As the mainland is working hard to integrate cable network with Internet and telephone networks, the new network will enable multiple services of TVs other than just showing traditional video programs, Bai said.

Mainland companies are willing to work with Taiwan firms in developing the high-quality screens, chips, software and applications used for intelligent TVs, she said.

"Facing competition from Japanese and Korean companies, enterprises each side of the Taiwan Strait should join hands so as to earn a share in the global market," she said.

Companies from the two sides have their own advantages: Taiwan firms have the advantages in producing flat screens, designing chips and developing new displays while the mainland companies have strong brand influence on the huge mainland market and their technological level has improved a lot, Wang said.