The Zhitong Finance App learned that since the first quarter of 2026, LCD smartphone display driver IC shipments to brands have continued to decline. Affected by the continued rise in memory costs, Omdia expects the market to face a double-digit decline in annual shipments. In 2026, shipments of LCD display driver ICs for branded smartphones are expected to be 458 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 18%. Smartphone display driver ICs, including products used to repair and refurbish smartphones, account for the largest share of demand for small to medium LCD display driver ICs, about 60%.
On the other hand, as panel makers shift excess production capacity from the smartphone manufacturer market where demand is slowing down to the refurbished smartphone market, display panel shipments to this market are growing rapidly. In 2025, TDDI shipped more than 1 billion LCD smartphones to the repair and refurbishment market, which is almost 1.8 times the demand for branded LCD smartphones. In the first half of 2026, LCD smartphone panel shipments to the repair and refurbishment market surpassed the level of the first half of 2025. As a result, demand for display driver ICs in the maintenance and refurbishment market is taking up a significant share of the available production capacity in wafer foundries.
Automobiles and smartwatches are also important application areas for LCD small to medium display driver ICs, but at present, the overall shipping scale is still significantly lower than the smartphone market.
Crystalline and SMIC are currently the largest and most important suppliers with the HV55-90nm process production capacity. As Taiwanese fabs such as LiSMC and TSMC gradually reduce production capacity for the HV55-90nm process, more and more orders are shifting from Taiwan to mainland China. At the same time, the growing demand for the repair and refurbishment of the smartphone market also consumes a large amount of production capacity; therefore, compared with OLED display driver ICs, the supply and demand situation for small to medium LCD display driver ICs is relatively tight. The capacity utilization rate of crystallization has remained at a high level.
Omdia anticipates that despite strong demand in the refurbished smartphone market and reduced production capacity in Taiwan, China, the overall demand for small to medium LCD display driver ICs in 2026, including the refurbished smartphone market, will still fall below the 2025 level. As demand and production capacity gradually adjust, the market is expected to balance supply and demand. At the same time, the new HV55-90nm production capacity from SMIC, Jinghe, and Runpeng will help supplement the overall production capacity of small to medium LCD display driver ICs.
