04-17: Apple closed 1Q17 with a USD246.09B cash reserve; India’s smartphone makers are seeking government action after a dramatic loss of market share to deep-pocketed Chinese rivals; etc.
Chipset
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) announced consolidated revenue of NTD233.91B, net income of NTD87.63B (USD2.9B), and diluted earnings per share of NTD3.38 (USD0.54 per ADR unit) for 1Q17. (TSMC, Yahoo, Asia Nikkei, Laoyaoba)
Touch Display
OLED microdisplay maker eMagin announced that the US Army will use its new high-brightness OLED microdisplays in its major helicopter helmet upgrade program. The program will retrofit high brightness, monochrome green microdisplays into the current fielded helmet. (OLED-Info, 4-Traders, Business Wire)
IDC analyst Sean Kao indicates that Mainland China smartphone vendors have high inventory, which affects orders for smartphone panels. Additionally, BOE’s Gen8.5 panel production will increase the supply of panels causing the cost to go down. This expects to influence the operation of panel vendors in 1H17. (Laoyaoba, 51Touch, SEMI, press)
Samsung’s System LSI is estimated to earn about KRW480B (USD422M) from the display driver IC supply to Apple. Considering the unit price of about USD5, about 80M OLED iPhones are expected to be rolled out in 2017. (CN Beta, The Investor)
Memory
Hon Hai Precision Industry, or Foxconn, has asked for help from Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Group in its bid to acquire Toshiba’s memory business. (Reuters, NASDAQ, Business Insider, CN Beta)
Battery
Scientists at MIT and UC Berkeley have created a prototype, which is a solar-powered device that pulls fresh water from the air – and it only requires 20%-30% humidity to work. It is able to produce 3 quarts (2.8 liters) of water using 2.2 pounds (just under a kilogram) of metal-organic frameworks (MOF) over a 12-hour period. (CN Beta, CNET, Phys, Fortune)
Suzuki Motor Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and Denso Corporation will establish a joint venture company this year to make lithium-ion battery packs for vehicles in India. The 3 companies “signed the agreement” and an initial investment of JPY20B (nearly INR1,200 Crore, USD184M) will be made in this joint venture. (CN Beta, Reuters, India Times, Hindustan Times)
Biometrics
Fingerprint sensor supplier Egis Technology (EgisTec) posted revenues of NTD1.18B (USD38.5M) in 1Q17, up robustly from NTD106.2M a year ago. FocalTech’s revenues came to NTD2.16B for 1Q17, down 6.4% on year. FocalTech expects to ship over 100M single-chip integrated driver controllers (IDC) chips in 2017. (Digitimes, press)
Smartphones
Apple closed 1Q17 with a USD246.09B cash reserve, up USD8.49B from a year ago. (Phone Arena, CNBC, CIA Factbook, Yahoo, 163)
In Feb 2017, ZTE agreed to pay USD892M in fines and plead guilty to violating US sanctions on Iran and obstructing justice. Canalys analyst Rushabh Doshi indicates that ZTE is fairly unchallenged in the low-cost segment in US. Jefferies analyst Edison Lee indicates that by luck or by design, ZTE has struck some pretty good relationships with US carriers, like AT&T, and because they were there early they acquired some good brand recognition. (Business Review, WSJ, Laoyaoba)
Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp said its first-quarter net profit rose 27.8% on demand for its carriers’ network and consumer business. Profit for 1Q17 rose to CNY1.2B (USD174.29M) from CNY949.5M a year ago. Operating revenue rose 17.8% to CNY25.7B. (CN Beta, Reuters)
India’s smartphone makers are seeking government action after a dramatic loss of market share to deep-pocketed Chinese rivals, who have been taking the country’s mobile market by storm with aggressive pricing and marketing campaigns. (CN Beta, Financial Times)
Wearables
Swansea University in the U.K. will begin trials inside of 2018 on so-called smart bandage. The intelligent dressing uses nano-technology to sense the state of that wound at any one specific time. It would connect that wound to a 5G infrastructure and that infrastructure through a telephone will also know things about wearer. (Engadget, Phone Arena, BBC, Ubergizmo, LinuxIDC, JRJ)
