Light-emitting diodes (LED) back-lit panel shipments for computers and TVs are expected to grow to 104.5 million units by the end of 2009, with a market penetration above 25 percent, comparing with 12 percent now, a market researcher recently said.

LED back-lit computer and TV panel shipments would exceed the shipments of those with cold-cathode-fluorescent-lamp liquid-crystal-displays (LCD) in the third quarter, the researcher said.

AU Optronics Corp, Taiwan’s biggest LCD panel maker, will be the top supplier of LED backlit panels by the end of the year, seizing 32 percent of total market share, the report said. The company expects 70 percent to 80 percent of total notebook computer panels to use LED backlighting by the end of the year.

Hannstar Display Corp will rank No. 2, followed by South Korean company Samsung Electronics Co, the researcher said.

In the first quarter of 2009, shipments of LED backlit panels used in computers grew almost 8 times from the same period last year to 10.6 million units, the report showed. About 4.2 million units were shipped for netbooks, with 100 percent LED penetration, and 5.9 million for notebook PCs, with 26 percent penetration.