IF / News

Chipsets

TSMC has an over 50% of the global pure-play foundry market, and the establishment of its new US fab could pose a further threat to Samsung’s foundry operations and Globalfoundries, according to Digitimes. Both Samsung and Globalfoundries already have manufacturing sites in the US. TSMC has announced recently its intention to build and operate an advanced 5nm wafer fab in Arizona, with construction planned to start in 2021 followed by production set to kick off in 2024. (Digitimes, press, Digitimes)

Samsung Electronics’ chip production in 1Q20 increased 57.4% from a year earlier despite the spread of the novel coronavirus. Samsung, the world’s largest memory chip maker, produced 277.4B units of semiconductors in 1Q20, up from 176.2B units a year earlier. This ramp-up in chip production is to cater to the growing demand for DRAM and storage chips for data centers and servers.  (Laoyaoba, Korea Herald, Sam Mobile)

According to the survey of TrendForce, HiSilicon occupies approximately 20% of wafer starts in TSMC, which are primarily advanced processes below (including) 16/12nm. Currently, HiSilicon’s chips used in 5G base stations and 4G smartphones are manufactured with TSMC’s 16/12nm node. However, it should be pointed out that HiSilicon has shifted a small volume of the wafer starts of Kirin 710 SoC for mid-end smartphones to the 14nm process of SMIC in 2020. TrendForce believes that the yield rate for SMIC’s 14nm process has yet to be improved, thus it will be rigorous to replace TSMC for advanced processes below (including) 16nm with the current configuration of HiSilicon. (TrendForce, TrendForce, press)

Touch Display

Li Dongsheng, founder and chairman of TCL, has announced that CSOT’s Wuhan t4 production line has increased its investment from CNY35B to CNY39B, and the t3 production line has also increased investment by over CNY1B. Wuhan CSOT is embarking on the technical transformation of the panel and module production line of the t3 project. After the transformation, the total production capacity of Wuhan t3 can be increased from 6.9M to 7.7M units. (Laoyaoba, Xinhuanet, Sina)

The opening ceremony of Tianma’s Gen-6 flexible AMOLED production line in Xiamen is held. The total investment of the project is CNY48B, and the annual planned investment is CNY7B. After the project is put into operation, it is expected to form a designed production capacity to process 480 flexible display substrates per month, helping Tianma flexible AMOLED production capacity rank among the top 3 in the world. (CN Beta, Sina, Sohu,  IT Home)

According to Display Supply Chain Consultants analyst Ross Young, Apple will continue to use Samsung Display for the 5.4” “iPhone 12”, not BOE. The firm instead suggests BOE may be a supplier for a redesigned “iPhone 12s” for 2021, “if all goes well on the iPhone 12 Max”. The “iPhone 12 Max” will use a 6.1” flexible OLED panel sourced from BOE and LG Display (LGD), with LG expected to have higher volumes of orders initially due to Apple’s “greater familiarity” with it. BOE is allegedly expecting orders in the realm of 5M~10M units for 2020. (Apple Insider, Display Supply Chain, CN Beta)

Camera

Samsung has introduced Samsung ISOCELL GN1, a new 50MP image sensor offering a 1/1.31” sensor size and large 1.2μm-sized pixels. The ISOCELL GN1 is Samsung’s first image sensor to offer both Dual Pixel and Tetracell technologies. Samsung says the GN1 also offers dual-pixel autofocus and has a software algorithm capable of churning out 100MP snaps (using light data from each photo-diode). (CN Beta, Samsung, Android Authority)

OnePlus 8 Pro has a color filter camera, essentially allowing users to take images with grey and copper colors. This camera is able to see through thin plastic material (like the Apple TV and some TV remotes) as well as thin layers of clothing. OnePlus has announced that they will be temporarily disabling the color filter camera, while acknowledging privacy concerns. (Android Authority, CN Beta, CN Beta)

Huawei has filed a patent withChina National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) related to “liquid lens camera module”, which includes a moving motor, camera placeholder, and electronic hardware to move the liquid lens. A stator is moved in the direction of the optical axis with the help of the motor. This stator is further connected with a liquid lens via spring. This patented camera module for the liquid lens improves the stability and reliability of the motor under harsh conditions like impact or drop. (Gizmo China, Huawei Central, Sina)

Phone

Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar indicates that there were several Apple data points “of interest” amid a period of limited earnings announcements and escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Specifically, Apple appears to be giving up some of its margins on the new iPhone SE to “drive a greater install base”. Piper Sandler cites a Nikkei review of iPhone SE component costs revealing that it has a 54% component cost margin — the highest for recent models. (CN Beta, Softpedia, Apple Insider, My Drivers)

Huawei’s consumer business product line VP Sheng Xing has revealed that Huawei has sold over 15M 5G handsets up to 1Q20, making it rank first in China’s 5G market with 55.4% share and seize 33% of the global 5G smartphone market as well. Up to May 2020, the company has released more than 19 5G smartphones, es ranging CNY2,000-16,000 (USD281~2,251). (Gizmo China, CN Beta)

Wang Yanmin, President of Huawei CEE, Northern Europe, and Canada, revealed that the number of Huawei’s HMS developers has increased by 150% to 1.4M. In Feb 2020, the number of registered developers announced by Huawei is 1.3M. (Gizmo China, My Drivers, GizChina)

Huawei Y8p (rebranded Enjoy 10s) is launched in Belarus – 6.3” 1080×2400 FHD+ OLED u-notch, HiSilicon Kirin 710F, rear tri 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP depth + front 16MP, 4+128 / 6+128GB, Android 10.0 (HMS), under display fingerprint scanner, 4000mAh 10W, from BYN650 (EUR245).  (Gizmo China, Huawei, GSM Arena)

vivo iQOO Z1 5G is launched in China – 6.57” 1080×2408 FHD+ IPS 144Hz HiD, MediaTek Dimensity 1000+, rear tri 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro + front 16MP, 6+128 / 8+128 / 8+256GB,  Android 10.0, side fingerprint scanner, 4500mAh 44W, CNY2,198 (USD309) / CNY2,498 (USD351) / CNY2,798 (USD394).  (Gizmo China, GSM Arena, CN Beta)

PC Tablet

Honor V6 tablet is announced – 10.4” 2000×1200 2K IPS, HiSilicon Kirin 985, rear 13MP + front 8MP, 6+128GB, Android 10.0 (HMS), Magic Pencil stylus, 7250mAh 22.5W, supports 5G, Histen 6.1 3D sound effect and four large-amplitude speakers, price not yet announced. (GSM Arena, Gizmo China, Honor)

Augmented / Virtual Reality

Samsung has announced the plan to gradually shut down its XR service applications across web, mobile, and headset platforms over the next few months. The service will terminate entirely on 30 Sept 2020. (Android Headlines, Samsung)

Facebook’s Oculus has revealed that people have spent more than USD100M on VR content. The company has also revealed that more than 20 titles have surpassed the USD1M revenue mark on Quest alone. The company has shared that more than 10 titles have generated over USD2M in revenue on Quest since started shipping in 2019, including Moss and Pistol Whip. SUPERHOT VR has gone Double Platinum, surpassing 2M copies sold worldwide across all VR platforms. (CN Beta, Oculus, TechCrunch)

Artificial Intelligence

IBM’s lab in Zurich, Switzerland claims to have developed a technique that achieves both energy efficiency and high accuracy on machine learning workloads using phase-change memory. By exploiting in-memory computing methods using resistance-based storage devices, their approach marries the compartments used to store and compute data, in the process significantly cutting down on active power consumption. (VentureBeat, Nature, IBM)