Its second quarter net profit plunged to 182 million dollars (5.55 million US) from 6.65 billion dollars in the first quarter as revenues slipped to 60.9 billion dollars from 66.25 billion dollars.

Anaylyst forecasts for the second quarter ranged from a net loss of 900 million dollars to a profit of 1.0 billion dollars.

"Panel average selling prices (per) square meter were weaker than the company had expected, declining by about 14 percent (from the first quarter)," vice president and chief financial officer Max Cheng told a quarterly briefing for investors.

Shipments of large-size liquid crystal display (LCD) panels rose 8.1 percent to 10.1 million while small- and medium-size panels increased 14.3 percent to 18.1 million.

Large-size panels refer to those 10 inches or larger diagonally.

However, the company said it was seeing signs of a gradual industry recovery, forecasting shipments of its large LCDs in the third quarter would grow a double-digit percentage rate in the low 'teens' range from the second quarter.

"Large-size panel shipments (in the third quarter) are seen rising around 12 percent sequentially, of which panels for PCs are seen up around 10 percent and panels for television sets will be up about 17 percent," Cheng said.

The blended average selling price for TV panels in the third quarter is likely to fall 5.0 percent from the second quarter, however.

Chairman KY Lee said the industry is entering a phase of recovery on a slow path and called on peers to adopt appropriate production limits to allow the industry to achieve a healthy pace of development.

The company's overall capacity utilisation rate could reach more than 95 percent in the current quarter, the CFO said.

Company president HB Chen said the capital spending plans for this year remains intact at around 95 billion dollars, while capacity expansion could slow down next year.

The company may reduce its 2007 capital spending by 30-40 percent from the original projection of over 100 billion dollars, Chen said, noting AU Optronics is already slowing its capacity expansion for 7.5th-generation and sixth-generation LCD lines.

AU Optronics, Taiwan's leading manufacturer of LCD screens used in televisions, computers and peripherals, ranks third in the world after Samsung and LG Philips of South Korea.

AU Optronics Corp earlier this year announced its merger with a smaller rival Quanta Display Inc and the deal is expected to be completed by October 1.

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