Global monitor panel shipments declined in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, mainly due to Samsung Display Co.'s exit from the monitor LCD display manufacturing business and a shortage of semiconductors.

The worldwide monitor panel shipments fell 8.6 percent on-quarter to 39.9 million units in the January-March period, according to the latest report from market researcher TrendForce.

"TrendForce indicates that SDC will exit the monitor LCD panel manufacturing business after it reaches its shipment target of 1.2 million panels in 1H21," it said. "This figure represents a staggering 93.8 percent decline compared to the 19.3 million units of LCD panels that SDC shipped throughout last year."

Samsung Display, the world's top mobile display panel maker, has been focusing on its migration to next-generation quantum-dot (QD) displays, while withdrawing from the LCD business.

But for large LCD panels for TVs, the company recently said it is mulling extending its manufacturing for one more year due to soaring demand from TV makers and rising panel prices.

TrendForce said the global monitor panel market also suffered a setback in the first quarter due to a shortage of components, such as integrated circuits and timing controllers.

"In addition, since TV and notebook (laptop) panels have higher profit margins compared to monitor panels, panel suppliers generally allocate less of their production capacities for manufacturing monitor panels relative to other products," it said.

However, the market researcher predicted that monitor panel shipments for 2021 will grow 4.2 percent on-year to 169 million units.

"TrendForce believes that panel suppliers will likely in turn allocate more production capacities to clients in the monitor segment in 4Q21," it said. "More specifically, the current shortage of components in the upstream supply chain, which has been exerting significant downward pressure on monitor panel shipments, will be gradually alleviated in 2H21." (Yonhap)