Abstract

Upstream Materials Are Still Development Challenge; Capacitive Technology New Direction in R&D

After going through a difficult development phases, the Taiwanese touch panel industry entered a growth phase stimulated by the growing wave of touch applications. The number of companies making investments in this field also increased considerably. The industry's supply chain is gradually forming, building on the foundation of the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and semiconductor industries. However, upstream materials still pose a challenge for the industry's development, and makers have mainly focused on resistive touchscreen panels, which feature relatively low entry barriers.

From the viewpoint of applications, as system products in the future will be equipped with higher specifications, such as multi-touch input, touch technology is experiencing robust development in downstream system products. Able to offer multi-touch functions, capacitive touch technology is becoming a new direction in Taiwanese makers' R&D.

Future Outlook

Although the development outlook for in-cell touch panels is still unclear, it is definitely one of the potential development trends of the future. Faced with the possible threats posed by in-cell panels, pressing issues for independent touchscreen makers are strengthening their own technologies, improving product characteristics when in-cell products are not yet mature, and expanding their sales to international system product vendors and not focusing solely on China's private-label mobile phone market, which is prone to strong market fluctuations.