IF / News

Fab equipment maker ASML CEO Peter Wennink has revealed that the company plans to manufacture 60 units of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems in 2023. The company plans to manufacture around 40 units in 221. This will be expanded to 55 units in 2022 and 60 units in 2023. The lead time for EUV systems will also be reduced to between 12 to 18 months, from the previous 18 to 24 months. (Laoyaoba, Reuters, The Elec)

TSMC will reportedly successively produce A15 processors for Apple’s new iPhone in Aug 2021, and the total number of A15 processors that Apple has booked at TSMC in 2021 will exceed 100M units. That is to say, the first batch of new machines will be more than 95M, which optimists estimate is more than 5% higher. (CN Beta, My Drivers)

The semiconductor shortage that has gripped the world could last well into 2022 and hit smartphone production next, foreshadowing deficient supply for a range of appliances and industrial equipment, according to ING Greater China chief economist Iris Pang. The automotive sector has suffered the most this year but supply to the sector could improve relatively soon, with China taking up some production demand that Taiwan could not meet. Dan Hutcheson, CEO of chips-focused VLSI Research, has also indicated that the chips industry could grow between 21% to 25% in 2021, with “electronics having its best showing since 2010”. (Reuters, Reuters, Channel News Asia, CN Beta)

Chinese automotive system-on-chip (SoC) product startup Nanjing SemiDrive Technology has secured nearly CNY1B (USD154M) in a Series B round. The company will deploy the proceeds from the latest round towards chip R&D. The company has forged partnerships with auto-makers China FAW Group Corporation and China Automotive Innovation. (CN Beta, Auto Home, IT Home, Deal Street Asia)

Xu Yingtong, President of Huawei’s Ascend Computing Business, reported that in the past year, Ascend’s AI ecosystem has developed rapidly. Currently, there are more than 350,000 developers, and more than 600 solutions have been developed in cooperation with more than 500 partners. Universities have launched Ascend AI courses. (Laoyaoba, C114, ZOL)

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has said the company is talking to 100 potential customers for its Intel Foundry Services (IFS), where the company uses its factories to make chips for others. He has said Intel has shipped more than 50M Tiger Lake processors, and it is ramping its Ice Lake chips and is finishing the design of its Meteor Lake chips. (VentureBeat, Business Insider)

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has revealed that he has over 100 companies in the pipeline that want the tech giant to produce the chips it designs. The company will begin making chips for Qualcomm and Amazon. He has declined to share the value of the deals, but noted the foundry business is a more than USD100B market. (Yahoo, CN Beta)

Intel and Qualcomm are partnering up to get Qualcomm products on Intel’s 20A process. The first of Intel’s “Ångström” process nodes, 20A is due in 2024 and will be where Intel first implements Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistors, one of the major manufacturing technology milestones on Intel’s new roadmap. Intel has introduced RibbonFET, its first new transistor design since Tri-Gate, or FinFET back in 2011. The company has detailed process and packaging technology roadmaps, showcasing a series of foundational innovations that will power products through 2025 and beyond.  (CN Beta, The Verge, Reuters, AnandTech, Intel, PC Gamer)

MediaTek has unveiled the Kompanio 1300T chipset, its latest and greatest offering for tablets and ARM-powered laptops. The Kompanio 1300T is fabbed on TSMC’s 6nm node and features an octa-core processor with Cortex-A78 cores and A55 cores. The major upgrade is in the GPU department, which now features a nine-core Mali-G77 MC9 (the 1200 chip has a mid-range G57 MC5). (GSM Arena, MediaTek, CN Beta)

Earlier 2021, Xiaomi debuted its first self-developed Image Signal Processor (ISP) chip called Surge C1, which is used on its foldable phone Mi Mix Fold. OPPO and vivo are reportedly also working on their in-house ISP chips. OPPO’s in-house ISP silicon is said to make its way to consumer products as soon as early 2022 with the launch of the OPPO Find X4 series. vivo reportedly set up a secret team codenamed “Wyatt Shadow” for its self-developed chips 2 years ago, which is expected to make its debut on the vivo X70 series slated to release in 2H21. OPPO and vivo are also working on in-house SOCs (System-on-chip) to replace Qualcomm and MediaTek in the future. (Gizmo China, IT Home)

In response to the news that “the yield rate of small and medium-sized OLED panels supplied by BOE for Apple is lower than expected”, BOE has responded that the company will not disclose the cooperation status of individual customers.  (CN Beta, Min.news, Sina, STCN, IT Home)

Samsung Display has allegedly received the “majority of orders” by supplying some 120M OLED panels to Apple for use in future iPads. Apple has asked LG Display to more than double the amount of small- and mid-sized OLED panels it could supply. LG’s E6-3 line has been assigned to fabricate OLED displays for future iPads. LG already operates an E6-2 line, while both lines are located in Paju. The E6-2 and E6-3 lines produce components only for Apple. (CN Beta, WCCFTech, Korea Times)

The massive rise in market demand for notebook computers in response to distance learning needs and WFH applications from 2020 to 2021 has generated not only a double-digit growth in notebook panel shipment, but also a price hike of more than 40% for notebook panels, according to TrendForce. As various suppliers subsequently scramble to manufacture OLED, LTPS, and oxide panels, TrendForce forecasts these high-end notebook panels to reach a 17.8% market share in 2021 and 21.4% in 2022. Panels based on OLED technology are primarily supplied by Samsung Display (SDC), whose OLED notebook panel shipment for 2020 reached 800K units. SDC is expected to ship more than 4M units of OLED notebook panels in 2021, with room for further growth in 2022. (CN Beta, My Drivers, TrendForce, TrendForce)

Apple’s patent titled “Electronic device display for through-display imaging” is concerned with how Touch ID could be achieved through invisible, tiny, notches. Apple calls this “through-display imaging”, and says that a display can include “an imaging aperture defined through an opaque backing”. This does involve the display having a gap, or as Apple calls it, an aperture. The “optical imaging array” that performs Touch ID would be “aligned with the aperture”. (Apple Insider, MacDaily News, USPTO)

OPPO has announced its new charging technologies, which aim to ensure battery safety during fast charging. OPPO claims that using its hardware and AI software, a battery will have lost only 20% of its capacity after 1500 cycles, which exceeds the requirements by 300%. Starting with internal string double cell, which is grouping of two cells in one battery enclosure. A layer of polymer allows the two cells to work independently from each other. (GSM Arena, Weibo, Sparrow News,  Sina, OfWeek)

Volkswagen’s battery partner Gotion High-Tech also wants to produce the Group’s new unified battery cells in China. Hefei Gotion High-Tech Power Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, has signed an agreement with the management committee of Hefei Xinzhan High-tech Industrial Development Zone. The yet-to-be-constructed base will cover an area of 333,000 square meters and feature an annual capacity of 20GWh.  (My Drivers, CAAM, Gasgoo, Electrive)

Zhang Jialiang, OPPO’s chief flash charging scientist, has said that OPPO’s 125W super flash charging is no problem in mass production, but there are still many unsatisfactory areas. For example, the high-rate battery for fast charging has a small capacity and poor battery life. Then there is the high-strength safety hazard caused by the higher chemical reaction activity of high-rate batteries. (IT Home, GizChina)

realme is reportedly working on a magnetic charger named realme MagDart, and the first phone to support MagDart is called realme Flash. This will be the first Android smartphone in the world to come with support for magnetic charging. (GSM Arena, CN Beta, Gizmo China)

Upgraded satellites for Starlink SpaceX with space lasers are being prepared to launch for improved data transfer. A new feature allows a customer’s Starlink system to connect to seamlessly connect to a satellite, so it is always be connected to the best option. Starlink is rolling out a fix to address invalid “Thermal Shutdown” due to high temperatures. (Android Central)

OPPO and Sisvel have announced the companies settled their multi-jurisdictional dispute, resulting in a license that allows for OPPO’s use of certain cellular technology covered by standard essential patents (SEPs) owned by Mitsubishi Electric and Sisvel. The cellular patent portfolio of Sisvel and Mitsubishi Electric includes over 120 patent families (comprising over 1800 individual patents) deemed essential to the cellular standards. (Laoyaoba, OPPO, IAM, Sisvel)

The US smartphone market saw a 27% YoY increase in 1H21 sales as carriers continued pushing 5G upgrades and heavily discounted 5G smartphones. Both Apple and Samsung devices were the top-sellers in the premium segment with 53% and 17% YoY growth, respectively. OnePlus, Motorola and Nokia HMD saw strong growth in the market by capturing the void left by LG’s exit from the smartphone business. (CN Beta, Digital Trends, Counterpoint Research)

According to IDC, China’s smartphone shipment in 2Q21 is about 78.1M units, a YoY decrease of 11.0%. In 1H21, the overall domestic market shipments are 164M units, a YoY increase of 6.5%. From the perspective of the market structure, among the top 5 vendors, the top 4 vendors all have significant growth YoY, but they still cannot make up for the sharp decline of other vendors, including Huawei, in the overall market. vivo ranked first in the domestic market with 18.6M units shipped in 2Q21. (GSM Arena, IDC)

According to Kantar, the appeal of 5G continues to grow in 2Q21. As a feature driver of purchasing, ‘5G capability’ citation is in double digit share points growth YoY, in nearly all reported markets: the US (+19 ppt. YoY), the EU5 (+11 ppt. YoY), Japan (+10 ppt. YoY), Australia (+9 ppt. YoY). While ‘5G capability’ is as a reason for purchasing is near flat in China YoY, 1 in 5 smartphone buyers are citing this as a driver. Of the top 10 models sold in China, 70% are 5G enabled. In Japan this is 60%; it’s 50% in both US and Australia, and 40% across the EU5. (GSM Arena, Kantar, TechRadar)

Samsung’s president and head of mobile communications, TM Roh has officially confirmed there will not be a Galaxy Note 21 in 2021. However, it sounds like Samsung will release a foldable with S Pen support in its place. (CN Beta, Tom’s Guide, Mobile Syrup, Samsung)

LG Electronics has confirmed that it will begin selling Apple products like iPhones at its South Korean stores. The association representing the smaller distributors said it has signed a renewed contract with LG that now allows the company to sell phones from other brands. (My Drivers, ZDNet)

OPPO A93s 5G is launched in China – 6.5” 1080×2400 FHD+ HiD 90Hz, MediaTek Dimensity 700, rear tri 48MP-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 8MP, 8+256GB, Android 11.0, side fingerprint, 5000mAh 18W, CNY1,999 (USD308). (Gizmo China, Yahoo, Sohu)

OPPO Reno6 4G is launched in Indonesia – 6.4” 1080×2400 FHD+ HiD AMOLED 90Hz, Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, rear quad 64MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP mono + front 44MP, 8+128GB, Android 11.0, fingerprint on display, 4310mAh 50W, IDR5.199M (USD360). (GSM Arena, OPPO)

Nokia C30 and rugged 5G phone XR20 are announced: C30 – 6.52” 720×1600 HD+ v-notch TFT, Unisoc SC9863A, rear dual 8MP-2MP depth + front 5MP, 2+32 / 3+32 / 3+64GB, Android 11.0 Go, rear fingerprint, 5850mAh 10W, microUSB, from USD99. XR20 – 6.67” 1080×2400 FHD+ HiD TFT, Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G, rear dual 48MP-13MP ultrawide + front 8MP, 6+128GB, Android 11.0, side fingerprint, 4630mAh 18W, USB Type-C 2.0, IP68-rated, drop-to-concrete resistance up to 1.8m, USD550. (GSM Arena, Nokia Mob, The Verge, Android Police, GSM Arena)

ZTE Axon 30 5G is announced in China – 6.92” 1080×2460 FHD+ OLED 120Hz, Qualcomm Snapdragon 870, rear quad 64MP-8MP ultrawide-5MP macro-2MP depth + front camera under display 16MP, 6+128 / 12+256GB, Android 11.0, fingerprint on display, 4200mAh 55W, CNY2,198 (USD338) / CNY3,098 (USD476). (GSM Arena, CN Beta)

Huawei nova 8 SE Vitality Edition is launched in China – 6.6” 1080×2400 FHD+ HiD, Kirin 710A (SMIC 14nm), rear tri 48MP-2MP macro-2MPdepth + front 16MP, 8+128GB, Android 11.0 (HMS), side fingerprint, 4000mAh 40W, CNY1899 (USD292). (My Drivers, CN Beta, GizChina)

POCO X3 GT is launched in in Africa, Latin America, South East Asia, and the Middle East – 6.6” 1080×2400 FHD+ HiD 120Hz, MediaTek Dimensity 1100 5G, rear tri 64MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro + front 16MP, 8+128 / 8+256GB, Android 11.0, side fingerprint, 5000mAh 67W, USD299 / USD329. (Android Authority, GSM Arena)

Asia is more than 54% of the USD1B global esports market, according to Niko Partners. Asia is the world’s largest and most important region for esports, generating USD543.8M in revenues in the region in 2020. This is a 4.9% increase over 2019 despite the challenges of COVID-19. During 2020, esports operators had to shut down their physical events and shift to digital broadcasts of their events. Yet the Asian market still managed to grow, and it remains on a strong course in 2021. Revenues for 2021 will likely be close to USD600M, or 10.5% growth over 2020. (VentureBeat, Niko Partners)

LG has announced that it is updating its true wireless stereo line-up with the introduction of the new 2021 LG TONE Free FP earbuds. The series consists of the FP9, FP8, and FP5 and has been designed for people living a “high-energy” lifestyle. They boast a comfortable in-ear fit, Meridian-tuned sound, active noise cancellation, and a UVnano charging case which comes with two of the three models, boosting hygiene. (Neowin, Digital Trends, CN Beta, LG)

Facebook has announced a new API that will let developers incorporate video from the Quest 2’s sensors into their games and applications, creating a mixed reality experience. With the Passthrough API, developers will not only be able to mix the black-and-white images from the headset’s sensors into their experiences, but they will also be able to customize how it ends up looking to the player, apply effects, and even have the real world show up on specific surfaces. (CN Beta, The Verge, Oculus, Upload VR)

General Motors (GM) has sued Ford Motor over the name of Ford’s new hands-free driving technology: BlueCruise. In Apr 2021, Ford introduced its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system. GM believes the name sounds an awful lot like its hands-free driving technology called Super Cruise. (The Verge, Detroit Free Press, Engadget)

General Motors (GM) has announced it will introduce new Super Cruise capabilities on 6 model year 2022 vehicles in 1Q22. Super Cruise is the industry’s first true hands-free driver-assistance technology allowing drivers to travel hands-free on over 200,000 miles of compatible roads across the U.S. and Canada. By 2023, GM aims to bring Super Cruise to 22 vehicles, including the upcoming EVs Cadillac Lyriq and GMC Hummer SUV. (CN Beta, TechCrunch, The Verge, General Motors)

Loup Funds estimates that over the next decade, by 2032, booked operating profit from full self-driving (FSD) upfront and subscriptions will increase from USD600M in 2021 to USD102B in 2032. This implies today that 20% of annual buyers purchase FSD upfront and 3% of the remaining eligible vehicles subscribe. As features are added over the next 5 years, they believe those numbers will increase to 31% and 15% respectively, climbing to 45% and 34% in ten years. That means in 2031, about 80% of Tesla on the road will have FSD. (CN Beta, Loup Funds, Benzinga, Business Insider)

Electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors is now a publicly traded company, following the completion of a merger where it fetched USD4.5B in fresh capital. Shares of the Saudi-owned, California-based startup began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange. (The Verge, Lucid Motors)

German aviation startup Volocopter has sent its all-electric Volocopter 2X into the sky for a four-minute flight, successfully completing the first public crewed test flight of an eVTOL in the US. The Volocopter 2X, as this particular model is known, took off to reach an altitude of 50m and remained aloft for 4 minutes, reaching a top speed of 29km/h. (CN Beta, PR Newswire, New Atlas)

Walmart’s online retailer Flipkart has approached the Supreme Court challenging a Karnataka High Court decision allowing an antitrust probe against it and another e-commerce major, Amazon. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had in Jan 2020 decided to open a probe into the companies for allegedly entering into anti-competitive agreements in violation of the Competition Act of 2002. The firms had denied the allegations and wanted the probe quashed. (CN Beta, Money Control, The Hindu, India Times)