IF / News

Intel has been dominating the CPU architecture for the computing market with its x86 instruction set, while ARM revolutionized the smartphone market with its cutting-edge chipset architecture. However, both the personal computer and smartphone markets are approaching saturation, while the “pure play” semiconductor IP market is stepping into a new era. According to Counterpoint Research, the global “pure play” semiconductor IP market size will grow at a healthy 11% CAGR to USD8.6B per year by 2025. This market is dominated today by companies such as ARM, Synopsys, Cadence and CEVA. ARM has more than a third of the market thanks to its extremely high market share in mobile devices. (Laoyaoba, Counterpoint Research)

JSR has announced that it has signed an agreement for the acquisition of Corvallis, OR based Inpria Corporation, the world’s leading innovator of metal oxide photoresist design, development and manufacturing for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, for USD514M. (Laoyaoba, Business Wire, Yahoo)

For the sixth straight quarter, the global smartphone applications processor (AP) market clocked a double-digit YoY revenue growth in 2Q21, according to Strategy Analytics. The global smartphone AP market grew 18% YoY to USD7.0B in 2Q21. Strategy Analytics estimates that Qualcomm, MediaTek , Apple , Samsung LSI and Unisoc captured the top-5 revenue share rankings in the smartphone AP market in 2Q21. (Laoyaoba, Strategy Analytics)

Chen Liming, president of Chinese leading AI chip maker Horizon Robotics, has announced that as of Sept 2021, the shipment of Horizon Journey series chips has exceeded 500K pieces. As China’s first deep neural network chip company, Horizon, established in 2015, released China’s first automotive-grade AI chip in 2019 and achieved large-scale pre-installation mass production.  (Laoyaoba, IT Home)

The city of Dresden, Germany suffered a large-scale power disruption for 20 minutes from around 2 p.m on 13 Sept 2021. Infineon Technologies’ most important manufacturing sites was forced to shut down after a power outage, potentially exacerbating a global semiconductor supply crunch. Robert Bosch GmbH and GlobalFoundries also operate plants in Dresden. The companies did not immediately respond when asked whether they were affected by the outage.  (Laoyaoba, Bloomberg, Auto News, DW, Evertiq)

MediaTek has announced that it plans to recruit more innovative employees in India to support the local manufacturing industry. General Manager at MediaTek Bangalore Rituparna Mandal said MediaTek is supporting and committing to local manufacturing by investing in local talent. Data from techArc show that 54 out of 117 new smartphone models in 1H21 in India utilize chips made by MediaTek, the most used among all chipmakers. (GizChina, IT Home, Digitimes, TechArc)

Between 2016 and 2020, overall direct investment between the two countries fell 75%, from USD62B to USD16B, with the tech sector alone falling 96% over the period, according to Bain & Co. Investments from China to the United States have fallen much more sharply than those in the opposite direction due to Washington’s crackdown on Chinese companies creating geopolitical uncertainties for businesses, according to partner Anne Hoecker of Bain & Co. (Asia Nikkei, Laoyaoba)

Bank of America has bumped up its sales outlook for the semiconductor industry as it sees growing demand for chips that make computers and cars run, and named Nvidia and auto chip supplier ON Semiconductor among its top stock picks heading into 4Q21. BofA expects above-trend growth to last through 2022 and now projects total industry sales in 2021 to increase by 24% to USD544B, up from its previous view for an increase of 21%. (Business Insider, Sina, CN Beta)

According to Yu Xiaohui, president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and deputy secretary of the party committee, in 1H21, there was a round of “core shortage crisis” around the world, causing the halt of automotive production globally of about 3M units; also the lead time of mobile chipset is extended from 3 months to 12 months. One of the main reasons is that the demand for chips for new digital terminals has increased significantly. Among them, the demand for smart car MCUs is more than 4 times that of traditional cars, and the demand for RF front-end devices for 5G smartphones has also increased by more than 50%. (East Money, Xuehua, IT Home, CWW, Laoyaoba)

According to Omdia, the global OLED panel market in 2020 will be USD34.324B and is expected to reach USD54.705B in 2025. As the world’s largest consumer electronics market, China has a vast smart device market that is one of the core driving forces driving the growth of the domestic OLED industry. According to data from CCID Think Tank, the domestic OLED market will reach CNY35.1B in 2020 and is expected to reach CNY84.3B in 2023. (Shanghai Securities report)

According to the OLED production lines under construction of BOE, Tianma, EverDisplay and Visionox, the total construction projects under construction of the 4 companies in 2020 will total CNY47.177B. The equipment value of the investment in the OLED production line is relatively high, accounting for about 60% of the total investment. It is estimated that the equipment needs of the 4 OLED manufacturers will reach CNY28.306B in the next 2 years. The production line expansion of OLED enterprises is usually planned to be divided into phase one and phase two. (Shanghai Securities report)

According to incomplete statistics, a total of 12 OLED production lines have been put into operation by panel manufacturers in mainland China, a total of 4 production lines will be put into operation in 2021, and a total of 2 production lines will be put into operation in 2022. Shanghai Securities believes that after the production line is put into production, domestic material manufacturers will also usher in a round of performance release. (Shanghai Securities report)

The OLED panel process is mainly divided into 3 parts: the front section (array), the middle section (boxed), and the rear section (module). Among them, the equipment required in the former middle segment has relatively high technical barriers, accounting for 75% and 20% of the total equipment investment in the production line, respectively. The suppliers are dominated by American, Japanese, and Korean manufacturers. The back-end equipment technical barriers are relatively low, accounting for 5% of the total equipment investment, and the participation of Chinese manufacturers is relatively high. (Shanghai Securities report)

Apple is expected to release its first foldable smartphone in 2023. Apple and LG Display (LGD) are currently developing a foldable OLED panel together. It is said that the in-folding display panel employing etching for a decrease in thickness is likely to be a 7.5” panel and Apple’s first foldable smartphone is likely to be a clamshell smartphone. (Laoyaoba, Business Korea)

AU Optronics (AUO) has unveiled an 85” 4K gaming TV panel with VRR (variable refresh rate) of 240Hz. AUO said 240Hz VRR can eliminate picture delay and broken pictures, and can display very good visual effects and ultra-high contrast for gaming users. A new pixel design gives the panel a very high aperture ratio. (Gizmo China, Tom’s Hardware, Digitimes, CN Beta)

With major battery companies actively investing in the construction of European plants, the release of European car companies’ production capacity has accelerated. The German government has provided EUR1.25B in subsidies for 273,000 new energy vehicles in 1H21, and will extend the subsidies for electric vehicles until 2025; The Austrian government will increase the subsidy for electric vehicles and electric bicycles from 1 Jul 2020 and has increased the subsidy for electric car consumers to EUR5,000, and a subsidy of up to EUR1,200 for electric bicycle consumers; The Spanish government has also increased the subsidy funds for the “MOVES 2020” program. (Everbright Securities report)

Based on the policy support in various countries, the demand for power batteries from 2021-2025 is estimated. Promoted by the “Clean Energy Act”, the sales of new energy vehicles (EVs) in the United States are expected to reach 2.33M units by 2025, with a CAGR above 40%. Some Nordic countries, such as Norway, have a high penetration rate of new EVs, and other major European countries such as Britain, France and Germany have introduced corresponding stimulus policies. It is expected that the sales of new EVs in Europe will exceed 11M in 2025.  With reference to the assumption of battery charge, it is estimated that the installed capacity of overseas power batteries will reach 757GWh in 2025, and the CAGR will exceed 51%. (Everbright Securities report)

For overseas and domestic new EVs sales and power battery demand calculations, Everbright Securities tries to derive the annual increase in lithium battery equipment investment under reasonable assumptions. Assume that the capacity utilization rate of power battery manufacturers is maintained at 65%; each GWh of lithium battery equipment corresponds to an equipment investment of CNY200M; power batteries invest in equipment one year in advance to correspond to the incremental demand for batteries in the next year. (Everbright Securities report)

In response to the rumors of layoffs of 20%, OPPO has responded that this is grossly false information, and all aspects of work are carried out in an orderly manner. It is reported that OPPO will start to lay off employees in Jul 2021, involving the IoT business group, Internet business, marketing and other departments, and software engineers, design and other functional personnel are mostly. The average layoff rate for non-core businesses other than mobile phones is 20%, and overseas businesses and the brother brand realme have not been affected for the time being. (Laoyaoba, Sina, iFeng)

The Shenzhen Futian District, China and Huawei Technologies have signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement. This move also marks the beginning of a new chapter of cooperation between the two parties in areas such as new smart urban areas, digital people’s livelihood, and digital economy. The registered address of Huawei Digital Energy Technology Co., Ltd., which is established by Huawei at CNY3B, is in Futian District, Shenzhen. (Weibo, Laoyaoba, SZNews, FXBus)

Google has abused the dominant position of Android in India to illegally hurt competitors, a 2-year antitrust probe by the nation’s watchdog has found. The report has also found Google’s requirement to make it mandatory for device manufacturers to pre-install its apps to be in violation of India’s competition law. (TechCrunch, Reuters, Laoyaoba)

Samsung’s mid-range Galaxy A series handsets and budget M range smartphones have been impacted by an unidentified flaw that freezes them and makes them restart on their own in India. Owners of the Galaxy M30s, Galaxy M31, Galaxy M31s, Galaxy A50, Galaxy A50s, and Galaxy A51 have reported these issues. Samsung is yet to comment on the problem. (Phone Arena, Sam Mobile, Samsung)

Honor Play 20 Pro is launched in China – 6.53” 1080×2400 FHD+ u-notch OLED, MediaTek Helio G80, rear quad 64MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 16MP, 8+128GB, Android 11.0, fingerprint on display, CNY1,699 (USD263).  (GizChina, Yahoo, Gizmo China, Honor)

Faraday Future (FF) has announced the cooperation between FF and Geely Holdings has made substantial progress and achieved the first stage of technical cooperation. Currently FF has created an ecological O2O direct sales model integrating online and offline, through online platforms (FF Intelligent App and FF.com), FF’s own stores, partners’ own stores and exhibition halls, forming an asset-light sales network. (CN Beta, Sina)

China’s biggest automaker SAIC Motor has participated in the new financing round of Chinese leading autonomous driving startup Momenta after it became the startup’s biggest institutional investor in Mar 2021. The startup will accelerate its IPO plan and have the intent to set up a joint venture with BYD to promote the implementation of autonomous driving technologies. (Laoyaoba, Gasgoo, Momenta)

Boston Dynamics has released the latest update for its famous quadruped robot Spot, giving it better capability to make inspections and collect data without the need for human intervention. Called Spot Release 3.0, the new update adds “flexible autonomy and repeatable data capture, making Spot the data collection solution you need to make inspection rounds safer and more efficient”. (VentureBeat, Boston Dynamics)