Demand for smart glasses is climbing. Alongside established players such as Meta, Rokid, RayNeo, and Xreal, heavyweight brands including Samsung Electronics and Apple are preparing to enter the market, raising the stakes across the supply chain. In Taiwan's optical industry, several suppliers have emerged as focal points.
The first half of 2026 is packed with events, including the Super Bowl, tax season, the FIFA World Cup, and the Lunar New Year holiday. TV brands have therefore moved forward with inventory stocking. China's top three panel makers—BOE Technology, TCL China Star Optoelectronic Technology (CSOT), and HKC—will simultaneously implement production cuts of five to 10 days each. This is expected to tighten overall supply-demand conditions for LCD TV panels and drive prices upward. Additionally, there are fewer working days in February, so panel output is expected to decline significantly, shifting supply and demand toward a tighter balance and making LCD TV panel price increases in February a certainty.
LG Electronics is formalizing a shift in its television manufacturing strategy, extending outsourcing beyond China to Vietnam as part of a structural overhaul. The move comes as the company seeks to address intensifying global competition and weakening profitability in the TV market.
LG Display, fresh off its first profitable year in four years, is preparing to step up investment in 2026 as it seeks to strengthen its position in the increasingly competitive OLED market. Despite that, the company is proceeding cautiously on one of the industry's most closely watched questions: whether and when to commit to large-scale production of next-generation OLED panels for IT devices.
Giantplus Technology, which focuses on small- and medium-sized panels, recently faced a management rights dispute. The largest shareholder, Japan's Toppan Holdings, had originally agreed with JuYi Investment to transfer 53.1% of Giantplus Technology's shares in two phases. However, the second phase of the transaction has stalled, and reports indicate that Toppan does not rule out resolving the matter through legal channels.
Ennostar Group has rapidly advanced its optical communication technologies since 2021, targeting next-generation AI data transmission markets. In an interview with DIGITIMES, Chang-Da Tsai, deputy director of the Advanced Research Center at Ennostar, said the company has achieved significant milestones in short-, medium-, and long-distance solutions, positioning itself to surpass established industry standards and capture emerging opportunities driven by AI server demand.
Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics unveiled new RGB Mini-LED televisions at the CES 2026 trade show, signaling a strategic bet on refined LCD backlighting to shore up their TV strategies.
Rising precious metal prices are rippling through the LED industry, prompting Chinese manufacturers to issue price increase notices and pushing Taiwanese suppliers to consider similar moves. Taiwan-based LED maker Edison Opto has already announced broad price increases, while peers including Ennostar and Everlight Electronics are said to be internally evaluating their pricing strategies as cost pressures mount.
As global industrial landscapes restructure, Taiwanese companies are making record investments in the US, driven by a strategic shift from cost-cutting to resilience in supply chain management. AU Optronics (AUO) chairman and CEO Paul Peng underscored the necessity for Taiwanese firms to transition from passive manufacturing bases toward leveraging the US as a critical market, innovation center, and capital platform.
Introducing OLED technology into IT applications has been on the rise over the last couple of years, and display driver IC (DDI) companies expect this segment to provide new incremental growth momentum for OLED DDIs. Major notebook companies have already rolled out high-end product lines equipped with OLED displays, indicating that related projects are already shipping. However, DDI brands say the impact has not been particularly noticeable so far, describing the current situation as having projects but limited shipment volumes.
Below are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories from the week of January 19-25, 2026.
More coverage
