IF / News

Chipsets

According to Digitimes, AMD is expected to control 20% of the laptop processor market by 1Q20. One of the main reasons for laptop vendors switching to AMD processors is Intel’s perpetual CPU shortage, which laptop maker Compal reportedly expects to persist throughout 2020. (Digitimes, Tom’s Hardware, Small Tech News, CN Beta)

Morgan Stanley is seeing demand improvement and some structural content increase for trailing edge logic semis. The trends in these new products – in particular super-slim fingerprint sensors – have led to tight capacity for 8” foundry at TSMC, given 4x larger die size. Other commodities such as LCD driver ICs have finished their inventory correction; CMOS image sensors benefit from phone camera resolution upgrades. Morgan Stanley expects 8” foundry utilization rates to be high in 1H20 (90%), and there may be a shortage in 2H20. The 12” fab utilization should remain above 90% through 2020. (Morgan Stanley report)

Touch Display

Sources within South Korea’s mobile carriers suggest that Samsung is in the process of negotiating a price for its next-generation foldable phone Galaxy Z Flip that is KRW1T~1.5T (USD861~1,292). (iNews24, CN Beta, Android Central, Forbes)

LG Display (LGD) is planning to operate its Gen-8.5 OLED TV fab in Guangzhou on full-scale starting from end of Jan 2020. LGD’s fab in Guangzhou was completed in Aug 2019 in order to produce 55”, 65”, and 77” OLED TV panels. LGD has shown its will to lead the large OLED TV panel market by producing up to 90,000 panels by end of 2020. (Laoyaoba, OLED-Info, ET News)

As for new capacity additions in China, BOE aims to kick off 30K monthly input at its new Gen-10.5 fab in Wuhan (B17) in 1Q20, and CSOT’s Gen-10.5 fab (T7) in Wuhan is scheduled to ramp up in 1H20. SDP will likely begin operations at its Gen-10.5 fab in Guangzhou in 2020. Morgan Stanley expects newly added capacity to grow total LCD panel supply by 10% YoY in 2020, versus up 16% in 2019. Thus, Morgan Stanley now expects global LCD panel supply (after production yield and loading are discounted) to net increase 5% YoY in 2020. (Morgan Stanley report)

Camera

Wu Xiaodong, global VP of OmniVision has mentioned that the company’s 64MP CIS will enter mass production within 2020, yet he does not provide detailed time. He has also stated that the technology gap with the international vendors should be shortened as soon as possible. The gap between OmniVision and Sony / Samsung is about 1 year, in 2019 is about half a year behind, and the goal in 2020 was to be able to equalize; then in 2021 to be able to lead. (Laoyaoba, CN Beta)

Memory

Gong Xiang, SVP of marketing and sales of Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), has indicated that the 64-layer has been put into mass production (256Gb TLC) in 2019 and is expanding its capacity. It will reach a monthly capacity scale of 100,000 wafers as soon as possible and be completed on schedule for 300,000 monthly production capacity. In 2020, the global flash memory industry will collectively move to the 100+ layer.  (CN Beta, ET News)

Anticipating that memory chip prices will be rising in 2020, memory module makers have started replenishing inventory while also making upward adjustments in their DRAM module quotes, according to Digitimes. Memory module firms including Adata Technology, Transcend Information and Team Group are expected to enjoy a rally in their product ASPs and profit growth in 2020. Memory module manufacturers have seen their order visibility stretched in 2020, and are positive about their product ASPs that are likely to be 20%-30% higher than their 2019 average. (Digitimes, press, China Times, Digitimes)

Battery

The Germany government has announced that the government should shut down all of its coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest, proposing at least EUR40B (USD45.7B) in aid to regions affected by the phase-out. (CN Beta, Reuters, Euro News)

The operation rate at Samsung SDI’s battery plant in Göd, Hungary, fell temporarily due to a shortage of modules required for battery cell assembly. Samsung SDI is looking to build a second plant in Göd with an annual capacity of 12M cells at four production lines. The company plans to initiate construction this year to start operations in 2021. (Laoyaoba, The Elec)

Connectivity

Nokia has announced that it plans to cut around 180 jobs in Finland this year, while also planning to invest more in 5G technology and digitalization. It is lowering its cost savings target to EUR500M (USD557M) by the end of 2020. (Laoyaoba, Telecoms, Reuters)

ZTE and MTN Uganda have started 5G technology trial here to be the first who brings the Standalone 5G network into reality in east Africa as the region awaits it commercial roll out. (Laoyaoba, Xinhuanet, Nation)

Phone

According to Nomura, Apple has ordered 75M-85M 5G iPhone 12 units in 2H20. Apple’s 2020 iPhones, tentatively dubbed as the ‘iPhone 12’ will feature 5G if the plethora of reports floating around bear fruit. As per the details, 2020 iPhone’s bill-of-materials will rise by approximately USD40-80, and Nomura believes that the rise will hamper device adoption. JP Morgan forecasts that Apple’ shipments – 189M units in fiscal 2019, 198M units in fiscal 2020, and 207M units in fiscal 2021. (CN Beta, CNBC, WCCFtech)

Dutch navigation and digital mapping company TomTom has announced that it has closed a deal with Huawei Technologies for the use of its maps and services in smartphone apps. (GizChina, Reuters, HDBlog, IT Home, CN Beta)

IDC expects worldwide shipments of used smartphones, inclusive of both officially refurbished and used smartphones, to reach a total of 206.7M units in 2019. This represents an increase of 17.6% over the 175.8M units shipped in 2018. A new IDC forecast projects used smartphone shipments will reach 332.9M units in 2023 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6% from 2018 to 2023. (CN Beta, IDC, press)

Huawei’s President for 5G product line, Yang Chaobin believes that 5G smartphones priced around USD150 (about CNY1,028) are expected to launch by the end of 2020 or in early 2021. (Laoyaoba, IT Home, Gizmo China, My Drivers, CNMO)

Rosenblatt Securities has revised their 5G smartphone forecast. They believe Chinese OEMs are beginning to cut their 5G forecasts for 2Q20, which is leading them to bring down their full year big 4 Chinese OEM (Huawei, vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi) 5G smartphone shipment estimates from 200M units to 140M units. They expect Chinese OEMs in 1H20 to be very conservative and target 25M 5G smartphone shipments. They believe the overall smartphone market will drop ~5% YoY in 2020. (Rosenblatt Securities report)

E-Commerce

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced that the company would invest USD1B in India over the next 5 years, bringing millions of small and midsize local businesses online. The investment would bring Amazon’s bet on the Indian market to about USD6.5B. However, the trade minister Piyush Goyal has told a gathering of foreign ministers from around the world he welcomes an investigation into the company’s alleged “predatory pricing and unfair trade practices”. (CN Beta, Quartz, Independent, India Times)