04-11: Dialog Semiconductor risks losing a crucial supply deal of PMIC with Apple; Qualcomm provides a point-by-point rundown of Apple’s Jan 2017 lawsuit; etc.
Chipsets
Nitero, a company working in the increasingly prevalent wireless desktop VR sector, has just been acquired by AMD. AMD CTO and Senior Vice President Mark Papermaster said the newly acquired technology was “focused on solving” the challenge of “unwieldy headset cables”. (Engadget, AMD, UploadVR, 913VR)
Xcerra Corporation and Sino IC Capital Co. Ltd. have announced that Xcerra and an affiliate of Sino IC Capital , Unic Capital Management Co., Ltd., have entered into a definitive agreement under which Unic Capital Management Co., Ltd., will acquire all outstanding shares of Xcerra for USD10.25 per share in cash. (CN Beta, NASDAQ, Street Insider)
In a 134-page filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, Qualcomm provides a point-by-point rundown of Apple’s Jan 2017 lawsuit, denying a total of 389 allegations. “Apple’s complaint, and each and every claim stated therein, fails to state a claim on which relief can be granted,” Qualcomm says. (Apple Insider, Qualcomm, CNET, Engadget, Laoyaoba)
MediaTek has reported consolidated revenues of NTD20.81B (USD680M) for Mar 2017, up 22.8% on month but down 2.4% on year. MediaTek posted revenues of NTD56.08B in 1Q17, up 0.3% from a year earlier but down 18.3% sequentially. Nevertheless, revenues for the quarter came within the company’s guidance of NTD53.6~59.1B. (Digitimes, press, Laoyaoba)
Dialog Semiconductor risks losing a crucial supply deal with Apple, according to Bankhaus Lampe’s analyst Karsten Iltgen. Apple accounted for more than 70% of Dialog’s 2016 sales. Apple is reportedly working on its own battery-saving chip for the iPhone. (VentureBeat, Laoyaoba, Reuters, Bloomberg)
TSMC has reported consolidated revenues of NTD85.88B (USD2.8B) for Mar 2017, up 20.2% sequentially and 17.5% on year. Revenues totaled NTD233.91B for 1Q17, coming below its guidance range of NTD236B-239B, however. (Digitimes, press, China Times, 10JQKA)
Touch Display
South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has developed transparent electrodes for organic light-emitting diode displays out of graphene in cooperation with Hanwha Techwin. ETRI and Hanwha said their joint research team succeeded in using graphene to replace indium tin oxide (ITO), which has been widely used to make transparent electrodes in OLED panels. (Android Authority, Korea Herald, Sohu)
In a regulatory filing for the Korean stock exchange, LG Display (LGD) has confirmed that it received offers of investment for its OLED display business, but stopped short from naming Google as one of the potential investors. The company cautioned that no deal has been finalized yet. (TechNews, Android Authority, The Investor, ET News)
Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) has disclosed it shipped 122K large-size TFT-LCD panels and 29.56M small- to medium-size units in Mar 2017, with the former increasing 8.6% on month and 65.4% on year and the latter growing 1.9% on month but slipping 3.3% on year. HannStar Display has revealed it shipped 45.55M small- to medium-size TFT-LCD panels and 231K large-size units and own-brand LCD monitors, rising 30% and 149.6% respectively on month. (Digitimes, press)
EPD (electrophoretic display) e-paper maker E Ink Holdings (EIH) and Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS) have announced the establishment of a joint venture for combining the former’s e-paper R&D and manufacturing capability with the latter’s product development and marketing expertise to develop new e-paper products or display systems. (Laoyaoba, Electronics Weekly, Digitimes, press)
Memory
Duke University has come up with a sort of spray-on memory that uses nanoparticle inks to store data. While it has read/write speeds that rival flash storage, it has a much smaller capacity, at just 4-bits. (Liliputing, Duke University, Slashdot, Maker8)
Three Apple suppliers — Hon Hai / Foxconn, SK Hynix, and Broadcom —are reportedly dogged in their determination to bid for Toshiba’s memory business, despite strong preferences by both Toshiba and the Japanese government for a domestic buyer. While all three companies have submitted preliminary bids valued at USD18B or more, Foxconn has suggested it could pay up to USD26.93B. (Apple Insider, Bloomberg, My Drivers)
Meritz Securities analyst Lee Jin-woo indicates that SK Hynix is anticipated to reach KRW2.5T (KRW2.4T from DRAM and KRW424B from NAND flash memory) in the operating profit of 1Q17 thanks to surging prices for DRAM and NAND flash memory. Yoo Jong-woo, an analyst at Korea Investment and Securities, also forecast that the chipmaker is sure to come up with a record-high operating profit at over KRW2T. Yoo estimated that the DRAM prices grew by 18%, while that of NAND gained by 9% QoQ. (Laoyaoba, Korea Times)
Connectivity
Seeking additional spectrum for the upcoming move to 5G, AT&T will purchase Straight Path Communications. AT&T has made a USD1.25B bid for the company. The company is one of the largest owners of 28 GHz and 39 GHz millimeter wave spectrum. (Phone Arena, CNBC, Kejixun)
Smartphones
Piper Jaffray sees a positive data point for Apple iPhone 7 and 8 in a survey that shows a record 81% of teens expect their next phone to be one of Apple’s models. That is up from 2016 fall’s 79% and the highest it has seen, Piper says. More than 75% of teens in the survey say they own an iPhone now. (Piper Jaffray, press, Seeking Alpha, Yahoo, Business Wire, Investors, CN Beta)
Huawei Enjoy 7 Plus is unveiled – 5.5” HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor, 12MP + 8MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32GB ROM, Android 7.0, fingerprint sensor, 4000mAh battery, CNY1599. (Phone Arena, My Drivers)
Sony Xperia XA1 is announced in India – 5” HD display, MediaTek Helio P20 processor, 23MP + 8MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, Android 7.0, 2300mAh battery, USB Type-C, INR19990. (Android Authority, India Today)
Tablets / PCs
Sony’s newest digital paper tablet, the DPT-RP1 priced at JPY80,000 (about USD719). It features 13.3” E-ink 1650×2200 display, comes with a digital pen. (CN Beta, TechRadar, The Verge)
Internet of Things
LeEco Global Group Ltd. and VIZIO Inc. have announced that the merger agreement to acquire VIZIO will not proceed due to regulatory headwinds. (Android Authority, Android Central, WSJ, LA Times, iFeng)
Approximately 27% of all homeowners in the United States have already purchased at least 1 Internet of Things (IoT) device, a recent study conducted by home automation firm Wink found. (Android Headlines, ReadWrite, report)
