IF / News

Apple staff are allegedly “engaged with Intel counterparts” for work on a 5G modem for a future iPhone. If the report is accurate, Intel may completely unseat Qualcomm’s dominance in supplying Apple since 2011. (Apple Insider, Fast Company, 163, TechNode, Tencent)

Intel XMM 7660 is the new flagship for 4G, which is the first Cat. 19, 1.6Gbps LTE modem, and going to be launched in 2019. (CN Beta, PC Mag, Intel, Hot Hardware)

Qualcomm, China Mobile and ZTE combined their 5G expertise and demonstrated what’s being described as the world’s first end-to-end 5G New Radio (NR) Interoperability Data Testing (IoDT) system with a data connection based on 3GPP Release 15. (VentureBeat, Android Authority, Fierce Wireless, iMobile, YeSky)

MediaTek is aggressively persuading China smartphone vendors to adopt its Helio P processors to reduce risks of heavy reliance on Qualcomm, whose operations might be affected by Broadcom’s takeover bid, according to Digitimes. Brand vendors dedicated to smartphones models priced under USD600 could see dwindling technical support from Qualcomm for mobile chip solutions. (Laoyaoba, Digitimes, Digitimes, press, KK News, Jianshu)

MediaTek product planning and sales director Li Yanji indicates that in 2018 the company will slow down Helio X series flagship SoC market development, and accelerate the push of Helio P mid-to-high SoC. At the same time the company will also push mid-to-entry SoC, mainly focusing on MT6739 SoC. (Laoyaoba, XCN News)

Apple is expected to introduce its next mobile processor, the A11X, which will arrive with its 2018 series of iPad Pro at 1Q / 2Q18, according to Digitimes. The SoC chip will be the first product built using TSMC’s 7nm process technology along with the foundry’s backend integrated fan-out (InFO) WLP technology. (TechNews, Digitimes, press)

Richard Chang, founder and former CEO of China-based pure-play foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), has orchestrated the establishment of a new foundry house in China that will run as a commune IDM (CIDM). Named Sien IC Manufacturing (SIMC), the first China-based CIDM will be located in Huangpu (Guangzhou). An estimated CNY6.8B (USD1B) will be poured into the establishment in the first phase. (TechNews, Digitimes, press, Digitimes)

Touch Display

LG Display (LGD) has shut down its Gumi P4 plant that produces liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). This came after LG Display Vice Chairman Han Sang-beom announced in Jul 2017 to close its P2, P3 and P4 lines in Gumi by the end of this year. LG Display reportedly bets on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, is accelerating the phase-out of LCD. (Business Korea, My Drivers)

PMOLED panel maker WiseChip Semiconductor will showcase its1.36” and 1.8” flexible in-cell PMOLED touch panels.  The flexible PMOLED panels come with a thickness of 0.3mm and a curvature radius of below 30mm and are ideal for production of mobile devices. (Digitimes, press, 51Touch)

Innolux will take up Foxconn Electronics 6G LTPS LCD fab in Luzhu, southern Taiwan for NTD31.4B (USD1.041B), a move which will ramp up its global LTPS panel market share to 8% from the current 2%. While Innolux is ramping up the production of 18:9 all-screen displays and the supply of a-Si panels is becoming tight during the peak season, the company then decided to expand its capacity through the acquisition of the 6G LTPS plant, according to company president Robert Hsiao. (Digitimes, press, PJ Time)

Memory

Each month SMIC provides GigaDevice with a production capacity of 25,000 chips, increasing the scope of Mainland China’s NOR Flash.  The result will be a 30% increase in production capacity from the current estimated monthly production capacity of 88,000 chips. (TechNews, China Times, Laoyaoba, CTimes, ESM China)

Material

Despite the recent market rumors indicating that Samsung may stop using heat pipes for its new smartphones in 2018, sources from upstream supply chain players, cited by Digitimes, have pointed out that Samsung will continue the thermal design and its suppliers have already begun small volume production of related components. (Digitimes, press, My Zaker, My Drivers)

Enough Project has examined 20 of the world’s largest companies in terms of market capitalization. Mineral supply chains examined include tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold. Apple emerged as the “clear leader” scoring 114 out of a possible 120 points. Following the top 5, including HP, Microsoft, Intel, and Google, the remaining electronic companies take a precipitous drop in rankings, with Panasonic scoring 42.5 —and the anchor of the charts being Toshiba at 9. (Apple Insider, Enough Project, report, CN Beta)