Growth Is Expected in Backlight Unit Market

The market for backlight unit (BLU) optical films likely will hit $2.4 billion this year, a South Korean research firm forecasted in a recently released industry report. The market for the films last year was $2.3 billion. Displaybank Co. Ltd. of Seoul said, however, that the future is cloudy as worldwide competition grows and prices plunge. The research company said that the BLU optical film market may become stagnant within the next year and could decline slightly. Demand for BLUs, however, continues to be strong, and with expected steady growth of LCD televisions, notebooks and monitors, the use of backlight-use films likely will increase. Demand for BLUs was 22 million square meters in 2005 and is projected to increase to 77 million square meters in 2010. Coupled with this, the BLU optical film market also will see a rise in demand.