India has surpassed Japan and Australia, becoming Asia's second-largest data center hub after China. Data center capacities in the country are expected to nearly double in the next two years.
With Apple's launch of the new iPad Pro tablet that features OLED displays, South Korean providers Samsung Display (SDC) and LG Display (LGD) saw a significant increase in their tablet OLED panel shipments for March 2024.
Chinese foundries including United Nova Technology and Silan, along with substrate suppliers, such as SICC, have all increased their Silicon Carbide (SiC) production capacity.
Electric vehicles remain a bright spot in China's auto market as manufacturers of battery-powered cars overcame a slump in consumer spending at home thanks to price cuts and new model launches.
China's flexible OLED manufacturers have been rapidly advancing their technology and boosting their shipments, posing a substantial challenge to Samsung Display's dominance.
Software has become the core of automotive innovation as the era of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV) arrives. Zhang Rixin, CEO of Vector China, said the architecture of automotive software will grow more complex. Moreover, SDVs will break the linear automotive supply chain and turn it into a network.
Announcing a US$47.5 billion funding for Phase 3 of the National IC Industry Investment Fund (the "Big Fund"), China's next move is under the eye of global chip players.
Foreign media outlets recently reported that due to poor demand for the China-tailored H20 series AI chips, Nvidia has lowered the prices of the H20 series chips. Several supply chain sources later confirmed to Chinese media that the weak demand and price cuts for the H20 series were indeed true.
Entering 2024, there have been changes in Samsung Electronics' smartphone camera module supply chain. Semco maintains its spot as the sales leader while Partron has risen to second place. Notably, Mcnex, which dropped to sixth place in 2023, has climbed back up to third. Power Logics, which was second in 2023, has fallen to fourth.
While Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is visiting supply chain partners in Taiwan to secure production capacity for its high-end AI GPUs, the company is plagued by limitations on its China-specific H20 AI GPU technology. It is unusually lowering sales prices in the Chinese market to counter increasing rivalry from Chinese players, particularly Huawei, which is reportedly set to launch a new comparable 5nm AI GPU in 2025.
LG Innotek and Hyundai Mobis have jointly applied for patents for LiDARs used in self-driving cars as LG Group and Hyundai Motor Group expand their collaboration on automotive electronics. LG Innotek plans to begin mass production of solid-state LiDARs in the second half of 2024.
South Korea's semiconductor inventories dwindled by the most since 2014, underscoring the pace at which demand is outstripping supply as customers rev up their purchases of devices needed to develop artificial intelligence technologies.
