Shipments to nearly triple in 2010, then continue to rise in following years.
Driven by cable operators� efforts to promote High-De?nition (HD) broadcast in several major cities, shipments of HD cable Set-Top Boxes (STBs) in China are set to nearly triple in 2010, according to iSuppli Corp.
HD STB shipments in China are expected to rise to 1.2 million units in 2010, up 192 percent from 410,000 in 2009. This will pave the way for the continued expansion of the market, with shipments rising to 3.4 million units in 2014.
Among Chinese cable carriers, Beijing Gehua CATV Network Co., Ltd (Gehua) added approximately 300,000 subscribers to cable HD TV in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company plans to recruit some 1 million new subscribers in 2010.
Gehua is also implementing an aggressive promotion strategy of sending subscribers HD STBs for free. For its part, the Beijing government is supporting Gehua in developing its HD TV market by giving the carrier a subsidy of $43 per HD STB.
Skyworth has become the major HD STB supplier for Gehua, which is set to become the biggest buyer of cable HD STBs between 2009 and 2010. Italian-French electronics firm STMicroelectronics (ST), as well as American-based Broadcom Corp., also are benefitting from Gehua�s aggressive promotion strategy, providing semiconductors for the HD STBs.
Despite the anticipated rapid growth of HD STBs, all cable carriers face challenges in increasing revenue and profit due to the lack of HD TV content�carriers at present provide only approximately 10 channels of HD programs. As a result, iSuppli believes the Chinese domestic cable HD segment will remain a niche STB market in 2010 and 2011.
CE in the Lead
The HD STB market reflects the overall strength of the consumer electronics (CE) market in China.
China�s major CE markets continued on the path to recovery in the first quarter of 2010, as both the export and domestic segments grew significantly compared to the same period of 2009, iSuppli figures show.
iSuppli expects that the major CE markets will continue stable year-over-year growth in the second quarter but that expansion will slow by the third quarter. Although leading Chinese manufacturers acquired stable purchase orders to boost unit shipments in export markets between the second and third quarter, many medium and small makers continue to encounter challenges that could dent the overall performance of the market.
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