Driven by vastly increased deliveries from the industry's three largest makers of the high-end panels, UltraHD TV panel shipments amounted to 1.1 million units in March, nearly a threefold increase from 384,300 units a month earlier in February. The gains are even more spectacular when measured from the same time a year ago in March 2012, when total UltraHD TV panels had not yet cracked the 150,000 mark.

"From the time UHD TV panels were introduced to the world for the first time in 2012, demand for these cutting-edge displays has been slow in growing, mainly because the televisions using the panels have proved prohibitively expensive," said Linda Lin, senior analyst for large displays at IHS. "But with the technology becoming more pervasive, coupled with increasingly aggressive marketing from panel manufacturers, UHD TV panels are starting to take off."

Contributing to the market's showing were pre-stocking orders for China's Labour Day holiday at the beginning of May, and the FIFA World Cup in June.

Shipments of UltraHD panels are likely to increase faster than the total TV panel market, the firm said. Demand for UltraHD panels will grow to 68.4 million units by 2018, up 350% from 2014, IHS predicts. In comparison, TV panel shipments in general will rise just 12%.