Shortages hit LCD Driver IC
Close on the heels of analog chip shortages, comes the LCD driver IC one.
While there is a high demand for LCDs (used in notebooks, desktop PCs and cellular phones), chip makers are reluctant to add capacity – the older, high voltage and older technologies used for making them are considered unprofitable.
Companies are going in for alternate options – Samsung and Toshiba has paired up with Toshiba to start production of a “common-type” driver for 256-color super-twisted nematic LCD drivers and Samsung to produce the complementary “segment-type” driver. NEC, a leading driver supplier, is outsourcing to Sanyo Electric.