Global smartphone shipments suffered an annual 8.8% decline to 1.24 billion units in 2020, as the rampage of the coronavirus pandemic crippled handset demand and shipments, Digitimes Research has found.But countering the adverse market trend, worldwide shipments of 5G-enabled phones reached as high as 280-300 million units in 2020, up from the 20 million units shipped a year earlier.Global smartphone shipments dove over 20% on year in the first quarter of 2020, fell by a double-digit rate in the second, and narrowed the decline to a single digit in the third, before staging a single-digit rebound in the fourth, Digitimes Research's figures show.The top-6 smartphone brands in 2020 were: Samsung Electronics, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo. Among them, Apple and Xiaomi managed to ramp up their respective shipments by over 10% from a year earlier, while both Samsung and Huawei saw their shipments dip by a double-digit rate.

With the persisting pandemic driving the stay-at-home economy, notebook makers saw strong shipments in December 2020, with the likelihood that order momentum will last through second-half 2021. Strong demand and rising production costs amid components shortages are prompting ODMs to consider raising notebook manufacturing prices. UMC, which is also raising prices for its foundry services, has seen extra pressure on supply of its 8-inch wafer capacity after a recent power outage at its fabs. Notebook demand still encouraging: Taiwan-based notebook ODMs are expected to enjoy a particularly strong first quarter of 2021 as they continue to see strong demand from clients, with order momentum set to last through the second half of the year, according to industry sources.Notebook ODMs mull price hikes: Notebook ODMs are considering hiking their quotes to reflect rising costs of components, transportation and other expenses, according to market sources.UMC 8-inch fab capacity may tighten further: A recent power outage at UMC's 8-inch wafer fabs may exert pressure on its already-tight supply of 8-inch wafer capacity, according to industry sources.

Tight supply and strong demand are pushing prices up in the secomiconductor sector, ranging from product pricing and manufacturing service quotes. Foundry houses have seen IC designers come knocking on their doors offering higher prices in return for more capacity in third-quarter 2021. Nanya Technology expects DRAM pricing to rally through second-quarter 2021 due to undersupply in the market. And Phison Electronics, which has just raised its NAND flash controller prices by 15-20%, is already mulling hiking them further in March-April. Taiwan fabless chipmakers to strive for additional foundry support in 3Q21: Taiwan-based IC design houses intend to offer higher prices in order to obtain more support from their foundry partners during the third quarter of 2021, according to sources at Taiwan's first-tier fabless chipmakers.DRAM prices to rise through 2Q21, says Nanya: DRAM prices will start to rally in the first quarter and rise through the second quarter of 2021, due to undersupply in the market, according to chipmaker Nanya Technology.Phison may further raise prices for NAND controllers in March-April: NAND flash memory controller specialist Phison Electronics has just raised quotes for its products by 15-20% to reflect tight supply and increased manufacturing costs, and may determine whether to further hike prices in March-April, according to company chairman KS Pua.

Samsung Electronics is expected to adopt a two-pronged approach to push the sales of its QLED and microLED TVs in 2021, in response to fellow company LG Electronics' efforts to promote its rollable OLED TVs, according to Digitimes Research.Samsung's QLED TVs integrate quantum dots (QD) and OLED technologies. However, in order to improve the performance such as power consumption and brightness, and to address the screen burn-in issue, the company also plans to develop QNED (QD+nano LED) technology in 2021.Samsung plans to launch its 110-inch micro TVs globally in the first quarter of 2021 and it may come out with rollable micro LED technology if it continues to push related technology, .While LG also boasts the capability of producing microLED TVs, the company will decide whether to launch such products depending on market trends.Samsung and LG would contract the manufacture of their QLED and rollable OLED TVs, respectively, to third-party companies for better cost control, with the former alone likely to raise the outsourcing ratio to 20% in 2021, Digitimes Research estimates.In response to the rise of local TV brands in China, Samsung and LG have also gradually withdrawn their TV assembly business from China to Vietnam or Indonesia, aiming at expanding sales in the Southeast Asia market.

5G private networks dedicated will become a stepping stone for Taiwan-based electronics and ICT makers to obtain orders for devices in the Open RAN (radio access network) market.Open RAN uses open interface specifications, software-defined technologies and white-box hardware, countering dominance by major telecom equipment vendors, such as Ericsson and Nokia, in public networks.Because development of Open RAN hardware, software technologies and compatibility testing is at the initial stage, it is still difficult to fully replace conventional telecom equipment for the time being. Digitimes Research believes private networks are preferred to public ones and rural areas precede urban ones for setting up Open RANs, and Taikwan makers will find opportunities from 5G private networks.According to GAS, 259 enterprise-use private networks had been or were being established in 37 countries as of the end of November 2020.As private networks are characterized by highly customized specifications and market fragmentation, Taiwan-based makers have to overcome the challenge through seeking appropriate 5G software developers and telecom carriers as partners.

TSMC is expected to allocate a record capex budget for 2011 as it fast advances its manufacturing processes. The foundry house's equipment and material suppliers will as a result see strong sales for the year. Taiwan's FPCB makers have reported significant gains in December 2020 sales, reportedly driven by strong shipmnents supporting Apple's iPhone 12 series. In the iPhone ecosystem, the voice coli motor segment reportedly will see a new supplier in Largan Precision, who has been a major supplier of lens modules for Apple's smartphones.TSMC equipment and materials suppliers to embrace strong 2021: Semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers of TSMC are poised to embrace a strong first quarter of 2021, and they are also optimistic about their sales prospects this year, according to industry sources.Taiwan flexible PCB makers log big revenue gains in December: Taiwan's flexible PCB makers in the supply chain of Apple devices have posted hefty on-month revenue gains for December 2020 thanks to strong shipments supporting hot sales of iPhone 12 series and the vendor's launch of new devices in the fourth quarter, according to industry sources.Largan reportedly to begin supply of VCMs for new iPhone in 2H21: Smartphone-use lens module maker Largan Precision will become a supplier of VCMs (voice coil motors) for iPhones to be unveiled in 2021, with shipments to begin in second-half 2021, according to industry sources.

Suppliers in almost all sectors in the semiconductor ecosystem are raising prices to reflect tight capacity amid strong demand. But there have been concerns that the upward pricing trend may send end-device prices up, deterring consumers. For chip vendors, such as driver IC specialist Novatek, price hikes are expected to drive up their revenus and profits in first-quarter 2021. But for China-based foundry house SMIC, which is on a US export blacklist, pricing may be a lesser concern than availability. SMIC may run out of chemical raw materials needed for chip fabrication.Rising upstream costs may dampen device demand growth in 1H21: Rising manufacturing and raw material costs may bring variables to end-market demand in the first half of 2021, as device vendors and manufacturers are looking to pass the increased costs onto clients, according to industry sources.Novatek to lead new wave of price hikes for DDI, TDDI chips: Taiwan's leading display driver IC (DDI) vendor Novatek Microelectronics is expected to take the lead to raise its quotes soon to reflect increased foundry costs, which may send its revenues, gross margins and net earnings hitting new highs in first-quarter 2021, according to industry sources.SMIC sees US ban hit supply of chemical raw materials and consumables: The US trade ban against China-based SMIC has restricted the pure-play foundry's capability of obtaining semiconductor equipment for its process technology advancements. Nevertheless, a more significant challenge facing SMIC is insufficient supplies of chemical raw materials and some crucial consumables for use in chip fabrication, according to sources at Taiwan's fabless chipmakers.

While RPA (robotic process automation) has become an important tool for enterprises' digital transformation, AI-based technologies have been increasingly introduced to RPA to transform it into IPA (intelligent process automation).RPA is an automatically scheduling software tool to do tedious and repeated work characteristic of enterprises' internal administrative or operational processes without having to change their existing IT deployment. By virtue of RPA, enterprises can assign more of their staff to do more productive and higher value-added jobs to hike overall operational efficiency.Along with growing demand for digital transformation and sharp rises in demand for process automation tools in the wake of the pandemic, demand for RAP has been strong, Digitimes Research has found.RPA ecosystems have been formed around providers of RPA core solutions.While early RPA was rule-based products, AI-based technologies, such as image recognition and natural language processing, have been fused with RPA to allow it to perform more complicated automation work. AI has enhanced RPA core solutions' capability of understanding documents' content, and it will be further developed toward intelligent applications including autonomous learning of processes, data analytics and prediction.

The car market is showing promising signs despite the ongoing pandemic, and Taiwanese foundries have seen more orders for fabricating automotive chips. But foundry supply remains tight, with UMC having recently raised its quotes for its 12-inch wafer fab services. The tight foundry capacity is also expected to constrain supply of AMD's upcoming Ryzen 3 notebook processors.Foundries see clearer order visibility for automotive chips: Foundries including TSMC, United Microelectronics (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) have seen the visibility of orders for automotive chips extended to the end of this year, according to market sources.UMC raises 12-inch foundry quotes: United Microelectronics (UMC) has raised its 12-inch foundry quotes to reflect tight capacity at its fabs, according to the contract chipmaker.AMD upcoming Ryzen 3 notebook CPUs likely to be in short supply in 1Q21: AMD's supply of next-generation notebook CPUs, which are based on the Ryzen 3 architecture and set to be released in the first quarter of 2021, is expected to fall short of demand, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

E Ink Holdings (EIH) will promote its ACeP (advanced color e-paper) technology to e-book readers in 2021.ACeP technology enables ink to produce color at every pixel without using a color filter array, allowing it to achieve full color gamut, Digitimes Research indicated.EIH currently provides two color e-paper solutions: a micro-cup consisting of red, white and black colors or yellow, white and black area colors, with the solution mainly used in e-tags; and a micro-capsule matched with color filters, with use of the solution extended from large-size digital signage to e-book readers.Glass-based color filters used in digital signage are heavy and thick, and transparency is low, and therefore are not suitable for e-book readers. Instead, color layers are adhered to thin film of electronic ink to minimize weight and thickness and enhance transparency for e-book readers.