Backend service providers face as much as a 50% shortage of packaging materials from until June as a result of production issues at Japanese suppliers. MediaTek is prioritizing shipments for 5G chips, telling its Chinese handset clients that it is cutting output for 4G offerings amid tight foundry supply. Despite tight foundry capacity, TSMC has promised more support for the car industry. Demand for automotive chip probing services is expected to stay brisk throughout the year.OSATs face increasingly tight supply of packaging materials: OSATs have been notified by their Japan-based packaging materials suppliers including Showa Denko about a potential supply shortfall of as much as 50% between May and June, according to industry sources.MediaTek to scale down 4G mobile chip shipments: MediaTek has notified its China-based smartphone clients that it will scale down shipments of 4G chips in 2021 due to tight capacities at foundry houses, according to industry sources.Automotive chip probing demand to stay robust through end-2021: Wafer probing service providers have seen the visibility of orders for automotive chips extended to the end of 2021, as TSMC has committed capacity support to chip vendors, according to industry sources.
Global tablet shipments totaled 35.95 million units in the first quarter of 2021, down 22.7% sequentially, but 45.5% on year, meeting Digitimes Research's forecast in January.IC shortages only have had minor impacts on the tablet market, which has still been following its seasonal pattern. The sequential shipment decline in the first quarter was due to slow-season effect and volumes in the second quarter are expected to continue suffering from seasonality, witnessing a sequential drop of 6.6%, Digitimes Research's figures show.The global top-4 tablet brands in the first quarter were Apple, Samsung Electronics, Amazon and Lenovo. Huawei, which was a top-4 brand in 2020, dropped out in the first quarter of 2021 and will stop shipping tablets after the second quarter.Honor, which Huawei spun off, is unlikely to see any major improvement in tablet shipments in the short term as it will need some time to imporve its brand recognition.In the second quarter of 2021, Lenovo will ascend to third place and relegate Amazon to fourth, while Microsoft will become the fifth largest tablet brand worldwide.Apple's shipments will stay stable in the second quarter thanks to the release of its new iPad Pros, while most non-Apple brands will witness sequential declines in second-quarter shipments.White-box tablet vendors are being hit seriously by IC shortages with market shares taken over by brand vendors' inexpensive models. As a result, white-box tablets may be at risk of disappearing from the market in 2022.With Amazon's inexpensive tablets largely replacing white-box tablets in the first quarter, the shipment share of 8.x-inch tablets significantly increased from a quarter ago, causing the share of 10-inch and above tablets to slip. However, thanks to the release of the new iPad Pros, the shipment share of 11-inch and above tablets will grow to nearly 20%, a new record level.Taiwanese ODMs' tablet shipments slipped sequentially in the first quarter of 2021 due to reduced orders for the previous-generation iPad Pros, but the volumes will pick up in the second quarter thanks to orders for the new iPad Pros. Taiwan-based ODMs' combined shipments will also account for more than 40% of global tablet volumes.
Shipments of smartphone application processors for use by China-based handset vendors reached 212 million units in the first quarter of 2021, increasing 0.2% from a quarter earlier, according to data compiled by Digitimes Research.MediaTek remained the top smartphone AP vendor in China in the first quarter, with its share increasing 9.4pp to account for over 50% of total shipments. On the other hand, Qualcomm saw its market share slide 6.9pp during the same period.Smartphone AP shipments to the China market are likely to grow 9.6% sequentially and 29.2% on year in the second quarter, as replenishment demand from Chinese handset vendors remains robust. MediaTek and Qualcomm are gearing up to expand their shares in China's AP and power management (PWM) IC markets.However, Qualcomm will continue to feel shipment constraints from its production partner Samsung Electronics in the second quarter due to the tight capacity of 5nm and 8nm process nodes at the Korean semiconductor firm, Digitimes Research expects.MediaTek is expected to widen its lead on Qualcomm in the second quarter, as the Taiwan-based chipmaker is likely to enjoy high shipment growth for its 4G smartphone APs in China due to their high price/performance ratios plus strong capacity support from foundry houses.China-based Unisoc is likely to outrace domestic rival Hisilicon Technologies to become the third largest AP vendor in the local market in the second quarter.
US-based AI startup Beyond Limits will set up an R&D center in Taiwan in 2021, according to the company's Taiwan general manager Chang Chung-yi.Beyong Limits integrates numeric and symbolic AI to create cognitive AI, its core technology.Cognitive AI features the technological capability allowing human and machine intelligence to complement each other. Even in unfamiliar or unknown environments, cognitive AI can be used to make simple and efficient decisions via human-like thinking models, according to the company.Beyond Limits' business model is to develop software solutions specifically for use in certain industries, with such solutions eventually evolving to SaaS (software as a service) modules. That is, Beyond Limits provides industrial AI solutions to help enterprises solve problems in decision-making process.Beyond Limits has been extending application of cognitive AI from energy and manufacturing industries to industrial IoT, medical care and finance.While focusing on the North America and the Middle East markets, Beyond Limits entered the Asia Pacific market in 2020, setting up offices in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.In Taiwan, Beyond Limits will initially focus on Industry 4.0-based smart manufacturing.Beyong Limits Asia Pacific COO Tuan Le (from left), executive chairman David Liu and Taiwan general Manager Chang Chung-yiPhoto: Company
Sony's CIS orders may have failed to materialize, but strong demand from other major clients have quickly filled the gap that would have been occupied by the Japanese vendor at TSMC. Persistently tight supply in the semiconductor sector has sent IC substrate suppliers looking to expand capacity. But some major Taiwanese suppliers are asking AMD to fund new lines that would cater to the client alone. In the notebook market, global shipments are expected to exceed 62 million units in second-quarter 2021, driven by gaming and education devices. TSMC ramping 28nm chip output despite cutback in orders from Sony: Despite weakened orders from Sony, TSMC still has been ramping up its 28nm chip output with plans to build additional production capacity at its Nanjing fab in China, according to industry sources.Taiwan IC substrate suppliers negotiating new deals with AMD: Major Taiwan-based IC substrate suppliers Unimicron Technology, Nan Ya PCB and Kinsus Interconnect Technology are negotiating with AMD a new form of supply deals under which the suppliers would build production lines dedicated to serving the US client, according to industry sources.Global notebook shipments to surpass 62 million units in 2Q21: Global notebook shipments not including devices with detachable keyboards went down only 8.7% sequentially in the first quarter of 2021 as demand for education and gaming models remained robust and previously unfulfilled orders were delivered, according to Digitimes Research.
Chromebook shipments worldwide remained at above 10 million units in the first quarter of 2021, despite an around 9% sequential decrease, according to Digitimes Research's figures.The volume went up more than 280% on year, though.Notebook shipments to the education procurement segment in 2020 were significantly driven up by the stay-at-home economy with Chromebooks, which accounted for over 60% of the volumes, seeing shipments surpass 30 million units in the year.Among major Chromebook brands, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Samsung Electronics and Asustek Computer all achieved new quarterly shipment records for the education devices in the first quarter, while shipments of models powered by MediaTek's Arm-based solutions also hit more than 1.5 million units in the quarter.Digitimes Research's latest figures from its Notebook Tracker show global notebook shipments arrived at 57.51 million units in the first quarter of 2021, down 8.7% sequentially, much better than the average sequential decline of 15% experienced in the past years.The significant performance in the first quarter of 2021 was driven primarily by gaming and education notebooks as well as Apple's MacBooks.Asustek and Micro-Star International (MSI) both saw increased gaming notebook shipments in the first quarter of 2021, while GPUs and high-end mobile CPUs used in these devices were in serious shortage with pricing rising.TN panels in 11.6-inch size and SD resolution, the most adopted screens among education notebooks, are currently experiencing the worst short supply and having the highest price hikes compared to other panels. Related timing controller (TCON), display driver IC (DDIC) and power management ICs (PMIC) are also in tight supply at the moment.Apple shipped more than five million MacBooks in the first quarter of 2021, up 150% on year, while over 50% of the volumes were models adopting the in-house developed M1 processor, Digitimes Research's data shows.Although component shortages are likely to worsen, strong demand from the education procurement segment and low inventory levels at US and Europeean retail channels will prompt brand vendors to increase their order pull-ins in the second quarter of 2021 and reach 63 million units, up 10% sequentially.
Global notebook shipments not including devices with detachable keyboards went down only 8.7% sequentially in the first quarter of 2021 as demand for education and gaming models remained robust and previously unfulfilled orders were delivered, according to Digitimes Research.With second-quarter 2021 being the traditional peak season for the education procurement segment and demand from the enterprise and consumer segments expected to rise, overall shipments in the quarter will grow sequentially.Although component shortages will remain serious, brand vendors will continue pushing their shipments to more than 62 million units in the second quarter of 2021 , up around 10% from a quarter ago, Digitimes Research's numbers show.The top-6 brands will all see sequential shipment increases in the second quarter. Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Chromebook shipments will continue breaking its record in the quarter, while Lenovo's shipments will underperform its competitors due to Japan's GIGA School project reaching an end.Dell will see brisk shipment growth in the second quarter as it steps up efforts for North America's education and enterprise segments.Apple is focusing mainly on shipments of its iPad Pros and iMacs in the second quarter, resulting in weaker notebook shipments than most of its competitors. Asustek Computer with its gaming notebooks and Acer with its Chromebooks are expected to see double-digit sequential shipment growths in the second quarter.Samsung Electronics will also experience a major on-quarter shipment increase in the second quarter as the Korean vendor now treats notebooks as one of its major business directions.Among Taiwanese ODMs, Wistron and Pegatron will see shipment shares increases from US and Taiwanese clients, respectively in the second quarter, compared to the first.
Global server shipments are expected to slip by only 1.6% sequentially in the first quarter of 2021 despite the quarter being a traditional slow season, according to Digitimes Research's latest figures from its Server Tracker.After experiencing a slowdown in server order pull-ins in the second half of 2020, demand from several datacenter operators began to resume in the first quarter of 2021, as shortages of ICs and components remained fierce.Server shipments are expected to grow around 14% sequentially in the second quarter of 2021 thanks to increasing orders from cloud computing service providers, e-commerce platforms and enterprises, as well as the replacement trend stimulated by the releases of Intel's new-generation server CPUs, Digitimes Research's numbers show.In the second quarter, Amazon and Google will both need to install more servers to satisfy their e-commence and cloud computing services, while Dell and HP Enterprise (HPE) are seeing increasing server orders from traditional enterprises.Supermicro's shipments will pick up in the second quarter as it has obtained server system projects from its US-based datacenter clients.Because of concerns over IC and component shortages and possible prolonged delivery schedules, datacenter operators and server brands have advanced some of their orders with their manufacturing partners.Global server shipments are expected to reach 8.09 million units in the first half of 2021, remaining flat from the same period a year ago.
Price of passive component may further increase in the third quarter of 2021 as shortages remain fierce, while visibility of orders from 5G handset, notebook, networking and automotive applications stays strong. Meanwhile, Apacer is planning to keep its chip inventory at high levels since its order visibility is still clear through May. Win Semiconductors also expects strong demand for power amplifier from 5G and Wi-Fi 6E applications with the orders to boost its revenues in the second half of 2021.Taiwan passive component makers mull further price hikes in 3Q21: Taiwan-based passive component suppliers will be considering a new round of price hikes in third-quarter 2021, given that their order visibility has extended through the second half of the year thanks to strong demand for 5G handset, notebook, networking and automotive applications, according to industry sources.Apacer continues to stockpile chips: Memory module house Apacer Technology intends to maintain chip inventories at high levels, judging from clear order visibility through May, according to company president CK Chang.Win Semi gearing up for robust PA demand for 5G, Wi-Fi 6E devices: GaAs foundry Win Semiconductors expects robust power amplifier (PA) demand for 5G and Wi-Fi 6E applications to drive its revenue growth in the second half of 2021.
China-based smartphone vendors saw their combined first-quarter 2021 shipments decline 9.7% sequentially to 191 million units, which, however, represented a sharp on-year increase of 73.8%, with the on-quarter fall also improving significantly from corresponding shrinkages of over 20% seen in pre-pandemic years, according to Digitimes Research.The narrowing sequential fall mainly resulted from Chinese handset vendors Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi aggressively snatching domestic market shares left behind by Huawei facing tough US trade sanctions.The three vendors together shipped 129 million smartphones in the first quarter, accounting for 67.5% of total shipments by Chinese suppliers, up from 58.7% registered a quarter earlier. Huawei's first-quarter shipments shrank 53.6% sequentially, Digitimes Research statistics show.Among other vendors, Honor, a spin-off from Huawei, sustained flat shipment performance in the first quarter as its sales remained focused on old models, and Transsion saw its first-quarter sales only slightly decline sequentially thanks to its smartphones with high price-performance ratios becoming increasingly popular with consumers in emerging markets now transitioning to smartphones from feature handsets.Digitimes Research also estimates the combined second-quarter shipments from China's handset vendors will drop 7.2% sequentially on seasonality and continued shortages of components. But the quarter's shipments are expected to grow on year thanks to lower comparison base for 2020.
