5-13 Week: Slightly late weekly review: Intel will stop investing in SoFIA, its Atom-based mobile SoCs; pple has announced a USD1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing; etc.

2016-05-15

Uncategorised

Slightly late weekly review. Happy Weekend and Happy Monday!

Some headlines: Intel will stop investing in SoFIA, its Atom-based mobile SoCs; Apple has announced a USD1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing; Google reportedly will reveal a standalone “Android VR” headset; Samsung Electronics is considering partnering with leading Chinese semiconductor companies; Tsinghua Unigroup International has purchased a 3% stake in Imagination Technologies;

Some components news: TSMC has recently begun to tape out the design for Apple A11 processor built on a 10nm FinFET process; NVIDIA announces VRWorks Audio; NavInfo will acquire MediaTek’s subsidy company AutoChips Inc.; Universal Display developed a new AMOLED structure that is a sort of WOLED; Japan Display will build a JPY50 billion production line for OLED panels; XMC could finish its 48-layer 3D NAND Flash production trial in 2017, and will start mass production in 2018;

Some numbers: Worldwide semiconductor capital spending is projected to decline 2% in 2016, to USD62.8 billion; Intel’s augmented reality and virtual reality investments and acquisitions likely top USD1 billion; The top-20 semiconductor companies’ sales declined by 6% in 1Q16/1Q15; The global DRAM market is forecast to record a bit growth of 3%-4% in 2Q16; The total LTE device shipments in the country reached 33 million in 2015, 1676% increase compared to last year; China-based vendors shipped 128.6 million smartphones globally in 1Q16; India’s smart phone market grew by 12% year on year, with 24.4 million units shipping in 1Q16;

Some new technologies: SkinTrack system; HoloFlex “world’s first holographic flexible smartphone”; Doppio “multi-screen” smartwatch concept; Microsoft Research “pre-touch sensing”;