IF / News

Chipsets

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) announced the official launch of its capacity expansion project at SMIC’s TianJin facility on 18 Oct 2016. After completion of the expansion project, SMIC TianJin’s capacity will reach 150,000 8” wafers/month. It has also announced that it has obtained China’s National Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund, also known as the Big Fund, and SICIF (Shanghai Integrated Circuit Investment Fund) to speed up the production of wafers using 14 nm and more advanced process technologies. (Laoyaoba, TechNews, Sina, SMIC, MIC)

Intel has announced its new Xeon E processors for the low end of the workstation market. Intel targets the new processors, which come with up to 6 cores and 12 threads. Ultimately the new Xeon E lineup serves as a lower-cost and lower-performance variant of Intel’s Xeon W lineup. (Digitimes, Tom’s Hardware, My Drivers, Sohu, Sina)

Tractica forecasts that the market for deep learning chipsets will increase from USD1.6B in 2017 to USD66.3B by 2025. System-on-a-chip (SoC) accelerators such as those found in mobile devices will lead the market in terms of sheer volumes by the end of the forecast period, followed by application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). (Laoyaoba, Tractica, press)

Touch Display

HannStar still mainly supplies a-Si TFT LCD panels, but due to the down-stream smartphone vendors adjusting the invetory, from 2Q17 a-Si TFT has gone through a number of quarters of price and supply adjustment. However, after the inventory adjustment and new models launching, in addition to the restricted supply of a-Si TFT LCD; aslo, HannStar also developing market in industrial and automotive applications, the revenues in 2Q18 have increased. Additionally, with more vendors using 18:9 display, HannStar has accelerated development of 18:9 display. In 2017 the penetration of 18:9 smartphone is only about 10%, and now in 2018 the number expects to go up to more than 30%. (Laoyaoba, 51Touch, UDN)

Memory

Samsung Electronics will reportedly expand its capex for NAND flash memory to around USD9B in 2019, up from about USD6.4B in 2018. Samsung will focus mainly on scaling up its 3D NAND chip output in Pyeongtaek, South Korea and Xian, China. (Digitimes, press, Electronics Weekly, My Drivers)

Sensory

Designers can extract vital signs and raw data for their wearable designs with the MAX-HEALTH-BAND, as well as monitor clinical-grade electrocardiograph (ECG) and heart rate with the MAX-ECG-MONITOR from Maxim Integrated Products.  (Laoyaoba, Electronic Design, PR Newswire)

Battery

ETH Zurich has developed a nanoscale-thick coating made from gold and titanium dioxide. The tightly-packed gold particles are good absorbers of sunlight and embedding them in titanium dioxide enhances this absorption. The material fights ice by concentrating solar energy into a small volume, raising the temperature at its surface and leading to rapid defrosting.  (New Scientist, Digital Trends, ACS Nano)

Phone

ZTE Corp, which was hit with a trade ban by the United States earlier in 2018, expects to report a net loss of CNY7B~9B (USD1.05B~1.34B) in 1H18. The company has appointed a new chief executive, 3 executive vice presidents and 17 senior vice presidents. (Android Headlines, SCMP, Telegraph, JRJ, Epoch Times)

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman and the conglomerate’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong apparent is paying special attention to the company’s IT & Mobile Communications division. The smartphone business comes under this division. He is reportedly taking a special interest in any and all matters. (Caijing, My Drivers, Yonhap News, The Investor, Sam Mobile)

Gionee, of which the financial issues have gained the attention from the market, has decided to form a special task force to plan a restructure proposal in the coming weeks after a board meeting. (CN Beta, Laoyaoba)

Xiaomi has certified 5 of its devices, and they seem to be on their way to Europe, according to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC). They include  Xiaomi Mi A2, Mi Max 3, Mi 8, POCOPHONE, and Mi Box 3. (Laoyaoba, Android Authority, Android Headlines, GSM Arena)

Artificial Intelligence

Criteo, the advertising platform for the open Internet, has announced the launch of the Criteo AI Lab, a center of excellence dedicated to the creation, experimentation and at-scale deployment of machine learning technology. Backed by an investment of EUR20M over 3 years, the lab will be involved in research related to building deep models that are interpretable, transparent and user-centric. (Digitimes, Brain, Brandt, PR Newswire)