IF / News

Chipsets

Baidu, ARM, Tsinghua UniGroup and High-Flying (HF) jointly issued DuerOS intelligent chip, which is designed as a one-stop intelligent voice interaction solutions, based on costs, performance, and ease-of-use. Since Baidu Duer BU was independent, DuerOS intelligent chip is the first significant product Duer BU issued. (Sohu, Laoyaoba, iToutiao, Hostucan)

Samsung has announced that its 2^nd-gen 10nm FinFET process technology, 10LPP (Low Power Plus), has been qualified and is ready for production. With further enhancement in 3D FinFET structure, 10LPP allows up to 10% higher performance or 15% lower power consumption compared to the first generation 10LPE (Low-Power Early) process with the same area scaling. (Digitimes, press, Tencent, Baijiahao)

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf indicates that Snapdragon 835 is expanding into Mobile PC designs running Microsoft Windows 10, which are scheduled to launch in 4Q17. (CN Beta, Digital Trends, The Verge, Qualcomm, BGR)

Several 12” fab projects implemented by China-based emerging chipmakers have been put on hold raising speculation about the country’s overambitious plans to revamp the local chipmaking industry. About 14 new fabs will be established in China in 2017, according to SEMI. China is set to become the world’s 2nd-largest fab equipment spending region with spending topping USD10B in 2018. (Digitimes, press, Sohu, Tencent)

Dutch semiconductor equipment supplier ASML posted net income of EUR452M. Net sales grew 46% YoY to EUR1.94B (USD2.08B) for 1Q17. ASML has landed a pull-in of EUV lithography equipment orders with its backlog reaching 21 units. (My Drivers, Digitimes, press, TechNews, Daily Mail, Laoyaoba)

SEMI reports that the 3-month average of worldwide billings of North American equipment manufacturers in Mar 2017 was UDS2.03B. The billings figure is 2.6% higher than the final Feb 2017 level of USD1.97B, and is 69.2% higher than the Mar 2016 billings level of USD1.20B. (Laoyaoba, SEMI, press)

Touch Display

According to Digitimes, LG Display (LGD) will supply Hong Kong TV manufacturer TPV nano-cell technology LCD panel. China TV manufacturers Skyworth and Konka already ordered LGD’s nano-cell panel, which is already in mass production. Samsung also plans to expand its QLED LCD TV in Mainland China. (OfWeek, Laoyaoba, Korea JoongAng Daily, Korea Herald, The Standard, Digitimes)

Samsung Display (SDC) and LG Display (LGD) are allegedly thinking of using “half Gen10.5” technology to produce large-sized panel to handle the high demand of Gen-10 above LCD panels from Mainland China. (Laoyaoba, Digitimes, Shoujibao, Taipei Times)

From the yearly China Information Technology Expo (CITE), Digitimes Research found out that in the small-to-mid sized panel segment, Mainland China panel makers including BOE, Tianma and CSOT were emphasizing their Gen-6 LTPS TFT LCD and AMOLED development. (Digitimes, press, Laoyaoba)

Memory

With gaming and video application becoming common on mobile devices, eMMC cannot fulfill requirement anymore, thus new standard UFS emerges—eMMC standard single data line speed limit is about 400Mbps, UFS2.0 single channel peak can reach 5.8Gbps, and with now dual-channel standard, it can peak 1,160MBps. (Laoyaoba, Sohu, EEPW, EET China, article)

Biometrics

EegisTec entered Samsung’s A5 supply chain in 2016, C series in 2H16, and in 2017 3 models of A-series and 2 models of J-series. Yet its customer is too focus, and mid-range smartphone sales could change. Looking in the future, EegisTech also develops next-gen biometric solutions, and accelerating iris technology. Its Chinese customers will begin pull in orders from 2Q17. (China Times, Laoyaoba, ChinaFPD)

It seems Apple iPhone 8 is facing some challenges for “full display” technology – Apple is rumored to open a hole at the back cover below the logo for fingerprint sensor. In 2H17 Chinese vendors’ smartphones with 18:9 full display will follow this suit. (Laoyaoba, CN Beta, Sohu)

In 2016, fingerprint cover solution in the market is entering maturity, with a number of solutions emerged—sapphire, ceramic and glass. Ceramic is popular thanks to its high hardness, low thermal conductivity, yet its price is too high compared to glass, making its market share growth slow. However, it is rumored that the ceramic cover solution price is going down, with drop rate reaching 25%, rendering itself more competitive. (Yopai, ChinaCCM, Weixin)

Connectivity

The leading telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS, and Ericsson (ERIC), the world leader in information and communication technologies, announce the successful trial of 5G technology, during which data transfer speed reached a record of up to 25Gbps for the first time in Russia on a movable prototype of a smartphone. Previously, all 5G trials were conducted only between stationary devices.  (CN Beta, Yahoo)

Smartphones

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty believes the average selling price for Apple iPhones will reach USD753 in 2018, higher than previous estimations of USD675. (CN Beta, WCCF Tech, Softpedia, Business Insider)

The new Samsung Galaxy S8 equipped with 64GB of NAND flash memory carries a bill of materials (BOM) cost that comes out to USD301.60, much higher than for previous generation S7, according to IHS Markit. After USD5.90 in basic manufacturing costs are added, Samsung’s total cost to make the Galaxy S8 rises to USD307.50; the unsubsidized price for a 64GB Galaxy S8 starts at around USD720.  (IHS Markit, press, data, CN Beta)

Gaming content on live and on-demand video sites will generate USD4.6B in revenues in 2017, according to SuperData Research. This type of media is hastening the replacement of traditional platforms like cable television. More than 20% of the people who consume this content in the U.S. fall into SuperData’s “cord-cutters” category — that is compared to 8% of the general U.S. population. (VentureBeat, SuperData, Jiemian, Citnews)

Huawei Enjoy 7 Plus is announced – 5.5” HD in-cell 2.5D curved IPS display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor, 12MP 1.25µm PDAF + 8MP cameras, 3 / 4GB RAM, 32 / 64GB storage, 4000mAh battery, from CNY1499. (Gizmo China, My Drivers)

PCs / Tablets

Gaming notebook shipments are expected to grow over 20% on year in 2017 from more than 4M units shipped a year earlier thanks to price cuts by vendors and rising demand for virtual reality (VR) applications, according to Digitimes. Taiwan-based Micro-Star International (MSI) and Asustek Computer have been the top-2 players in the segment. (Digitimes, press, Digitimes)

Robotics

IDC defines a robot as a self-controlled, reprogrammable, multi-functional, and is equipped with at least 3 free motion gyro. In 2016, in China consume-level robotics shipment would reach 400K units, and expects to reach 2M units by 2020. (IDC, press, EE Trend)

Baidu hopes to accelerate its self-driving car technology by collaborating more closely with global auto-makers. Baidu says it will ‘open source’ its software in areas including route-planning and vehicle control, which could help the internet company develop its capabilities in self-driving technology more quickly. Baidu has dubbed its open-source driving project Apollo. (Barron’s, WSJ, Baijiahao, Sohu, iFeng)