The latest US move to slap 10% tariffs on US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods has cast a shadow over the prospect of a significant recovery for the IT supply chain in the second half of 2019. TSMC and Intel may have to lower their guidances. Intel also faces strong challenges from AMD, who sees growing popularity for its latest 7nm offerings.US new tariffs on Chinese imports may dim TSMC, Intel prospects: The Trump administration's latest move to slap a 10% tariff on the remaining US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports, including handsets, notebooks and TVs, starting September 1 may significantly dent the sales upturn momentum for terminal markets, which in turn will cloud the prospects for relevant supply players, with even TSMC and Intel very likely to adjust downward their guidance at least for the fourth quarter of the year, according to industry sources.AMD to see DIY PC market share hit 10-year high of over 30% by end-2019: AMD has seen growing adoption of its new-generation 7nm chips including Ryzen 3000 seies processors and Radeon 5700 series GPUs by makers of PCs, motherboards and graphic cards as mainstream chipsets, and its share of the DIY PC processor platform market is expected to surge to a 10-year high of over 30% by the end of 2019, according to industry sources.

UK-based startup Kheiron Medical Technologies, dedicated to AI analysis of breast cancer, has successfully developed a mammography intelligence assessment (Mia) system with high cancer screening sensitivity and specificity, according to the firm's Compliance and Clinical Ops Lead Annie Ng.Ng said at a UK Innovation Medtech Workshop held alongside the recent BIO Asia-Taiwan 2019 that her company's Mia system can provide a suggestion of whether a women should be called back from screening or not and highlight regions of interest.She continued that Kheiron's Mia system carries a screening sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 89%, compared to 75-87% for the former and 85-89% for the latter. Additionally, the Mia system can be integrated with the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) to help doctors work out better medical care solutions for patients.Ng also noted that Kheiron has won the ISO 13485 medical devices, quality management systems requirements certification, and is the first British company certified by CE for a radiological deep learning software.

Apple saw disappointing iPhone sales during its fiscal third quarter 2019, and its component suppliers see weak order visibility for the vendor's upcoming iPhones. And things seem to be heading for the worse for Apple following US President Donald Trump's latest move to impose tariffs on more China-made goods, further damaging confidence across many industries. In the display panel industry, falling prices and weakening demand are sending suppliers reducing output. There are still some market segments where makers still have high hope, such as 5G. Now notebook makers are eager to roll out 5G notebook models by the end of this year.Components suppliers see low order visibility for new iPhones: Apple has started making preparations since July ahead of the launch of new iPhones in September, but order momentum for touch panels and other components has been weak, according to industry sources.AUO, Innolux likely to reduce output to shore up panel prices: Taiwan's top-two flat panel makers, AU Optronics (AUO) and Innolux, are expected to follow in the steps of their rivals in China and Korea to cut back their output in order to prevent panel prices from falling further, particularly for large-size TV applications, according to industry sources.Notebook vendors gearing up to launch 5G models: The world's top-3 notebook vendors Lenovo, HP and Dell are set to introduce their first 5G models in the second half of 2019, and Apple is also expected to roll out its 5G MacBook series in the second half of 2020, according to industry sources.

Taiwan startup TMS Technologies, dedicated to operating a DataBar-MaaS (Mobility as a Service) platform integrating Taiwan's traffic data, will extend MaaS API (application programming interface) solutions to Southeast Asia in line with the government's efforts to enhance trade and tourism exchanges with regional countries, according to company sources.TMS data manager KP Wang said that the company will first incorporate data concerning traffic events, parking lots and scenic spots in Thailand into its traffic data mart before covering similar information in more Southeast Asian countries.The firm's president Tim Chen also disclosed that TMS' ultimate goal is to become the regional window for international digital mapping and GPS solutions providers, by providing quality traffic data to help them render high-dynamic mapping and navigation services to regional markets.Chen continued that his company will also help businesses engaged in transportation and tourism segments develop more application service scenarios.

The Foxconn Group's 5G+8K business strategy eyeing the synergy of the next-generation network technology and Ultra HD applications is gaining momentum, as an affiliated LCD maker in China is set to start volume production at its 10.5G line next month making large-size TV panels. Others in Taiwan's supply chain are also gearing up 5G: A government-backed lab and 18 companies, including MediaTek, have formed an alliance to develop white-box 5G small cells eyeing the global market. And top IC backend service provider ASE Technology Holding is also enjoying growth for its SiP business, thanks to growing demand related to 5G applications.Sakai SIO 10.5G line to kick off volume production in September: A 10.5 line of Sakai SIO International Guangzhou, a subsidiary of Japan-based Sakai Display Products (SDP), has rolled out its first 65-inch LCD panel, paving the way for the plant to kick off volume production at the end of September 2019, according to company sources.Taiwan industrial alliance eyeing white-box small cell market: The Taiwan government-backed Information and Telecommunications Research Laboratories (ITRL) is working with a number of local companies to develop 5G small-cell base stations, with an aim to sell devices directly to telecom operations in the global market in 2020.ASE gaining ground in SiP on heterogeneous integration demand: Taiwan's top IC backend specialist ASE Technology Holding has seen its SiP (system in package) business expand substantially so far this year amid growing demand for heterogeneous chips integration to support increasingly complicated 5G, AI and IoT applications, according to company CFO Joseph Tung.

After falling 8.7% on quarter and 11.9% on year to 32.66 million units in the second quarter of 2019, global tablet PC shipments are expected to surge 19.3% sequentially in the third quarter, thanks to the peak-season effect, the launch of new iPads, and Huawei gradually resuming normal tablet shipments, according to Digitimes Research.The second-quarter shipment contraction was attributed to the absence of new iPad models as sales stimulus, the US trade ban undermining Huawei's shipments, and weak demand for white-box tablets.In terms of second-quarter shipments by brand vendors, Apple firmly ranked first, Samsung and Amazon regained second and third places, respectively, and Huawei retreated to fourth. Lenovo returned to fifth place after ramping up shipments in the quarter.In the third quarter, Lenovo will advance to third place replacing Amazon, which may drop to fourth place as a result of weak shipment momentum following its mid-July Prime Day promotions. Huawei is expected to fall further to the fifth despite gradual shipment pickup.As to sizes, 10.x-inch tablets will continue to dominate the market. Apple is set to release 10.2-inch new iPads in late third quarter. Overall, tablets sized over 10 inches will surge to over 70% of global shipments in the fourth quarter.In-cell touch display will gradually replace GFF (glass-film-film) touch screen among non-Apple tablet products, with the former's shipment ratio to surge to 36% in the fourth quarter.As a chip supplier for Amazon, MediaTek returned to the 2nd spot in terms of tablet processor shipments in the second quarter thanks to Amazon's shipment ramp-up. But the Taiwanese chipmaker is expected to fall to third place in the third quarter on weakened shipments at Amazon, with Qualcomm to rebound to the second spot.

Commercialization of 5G services is expected to accelerate in 2020, with TSMC planning to expand its 2019 capex to meet robust growth in 5G chip demand. And 5G smartphone shipments next year may be much higher than many market observers expect. TSMC will not be the only one in Taiwan's semiconductor supply chain to benefit from the 5G boom, as major chip vendors' Taiwanese suppliers in the silicon-based or compound semiconductor foundry and packaging sectors are revving up their capacity utilization and expansion. Meanwhile, Taiwan-based notebook ODMs saw impressive shipment growths in the second quarter of 2019 as clients built up inventory in response to the US-China trade tensions.Global 5G phone shipments may reach 150-200 million units in 2020: Global shipments of 5G-enabled smartphones might come higher than market expectations, with some market watchers believing that such shipments are likely to reach 150-200 million units or an over 10% share of global handset shipments in 2020.Chipmakers, supply chain firms revving up for 5G opportunities: With HiSilicon, Broadcom and other fabless chip vendors gearing up to tap growing demand for 5G infrastructure chipsets, their Taiwanese silicon-based or compound semiconductor foundry and packaging partners are fully revving up their capacity utilization and expansion, according to industry sources.Global notebook shipments to drop in 3Q19, 4Q19, says Digitimes Research: Worldwide notebook shipments rose over 20% sequentially in the second quarter of 2019, but volumes in both the third and fourth quarters are expected to experience sequential declines, according to Digitimes Research's latest notebook tracker.

Worldwide notebook shipments rose over 20% sequentially in the second quarter of 2019, but volumes in both the third and fourth quarters are expected to experience sequential declines, according to Digitimes Research's latest notebook tracker.The growth in the second quarter was primarily due to brand vendors building up extra inventory as a precaution against the possibility of the US imposing a 25% tariff on notebook imports.However, because of the high volume of the second quarter and the fact that Intel's new 14nm capacity will not become significantly available until September at the earliest, brand vendors' orders are expected to drop sequentially in the third quarter.For the fourth quarter, the worldwide shipments will slip further sequentially as a result of a number of factors: China's weak economy; PC replacement demand from the enterprise sector reaching an end; and a lack of innovations despite Intel having resolved its CPU shortages.With brand vendors stocking extra inventory in late May in response to the US-China trade tensions and Chromebooks' shipment expansion in the North America education market and their entry to the India market, worldwide notebook shipments performed much stronger than expected, growing by over 5% on year, Digitimes Research's figures show.The globally biggest vendor Hewlett-Packard (HP) is expected to see its shipments grow every quarter in 2019 to peak in the fourth quarter. Although Lenovo's large-scale procurement orders from India that had begun shipments in March have already reached an end, the company will continue enjoying on-year shipment growth in the second half of 2019.Dell's shipments will slip sequentially in both the third and fourth quarters as the replacement trend in the enterprise sector is approaching the end. Apple updated its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro in July, but the new 16-inch MacBook Pro that is set to be released in October is unlikely to stimulate significant demand due to its high pricing.Compal Electronics, which achieved a quarterly notebook shipment record in the second quarter, is expected to see volumes drop every quarter in the second half of the year due to the completion of some procurement orders and clients' order redistribution.Inventec, which also achieved a shipment record in the second quarter, will continue enjoying rising orders from HP and Acer in the second half and is expected to be the only Taiwan maker to see sequential growths in both third- and fourth-quarter shipments.

The US and China have restarted trade talks, but the cloud hanging over Chinese vendor Huawei remains. The latest news coming out of the supply chain is that Huawei has cut components orders for true wireless stereo (TWS) devices. But other IC designers, namely those supplying server chips, are upbeat about the second half of 2019. Digitimes Research estimates that global server shipments will grow almost 13% in the third quarter.Huawei slashes short-term IC orders for TWS devices: Huawei reportedly has reduced its short-term component orders for true wireless stereo (TWS) headsets amid the protracted US-China trade disputes, affecting sales of some Taiwan-based IC suppliers that provide related ICs to Huawei for production of TWS headsets and battery charging boxes, according to industry sources.Taiwan IC design houses expect pick-up in orders for servers: Taiwan-based IC design houses expect to enjoy a seasonal pick-up in orders for servers and data centers in the second half of 2019.Global server shipments to increase 12.8% in 3Q19, says Digitimes Research: Global server shipments are expected to increase 12.8% sequentially in the third quarter of 2019 with a flat on-year performance, but shipments for all of the year are likely to drop on year due to a sharp shipment decline in the first half, according to figures from Digitimes Research's latest server tracker.

Global server shipments are expected to increase 12.8% sequentially in the third quarter of 2019 with a flat on-year performance, but shipments for all of the year are likely to drop on year due to a sharp shipment decline in the first half, according to figures from Digitimes Research's latest server tracker.Worldwide server shipments rose 9% sequentially in the second quarter of 2019, but slipped 12.5% on year, Digitimes Research's number show.From 2017 to the first half of 2018, most server brands saw rising inventory levels as end demand was weaker than expected, resulting in the vendors spending the second half of 2018 and the first half of 2019 digesting their excess inventory.After leapfrogging Amazon in the first quarter of 2019, Facebook became the second-largest client of Taiwan's server sector in the second quarter, surpassing Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), with Quanta Computer and Wiwynn both enjoying rising orders from Facebook, particularly Quanta.Quanta, Inventec and Wiwynn all saw sequential shipment growths in the second quarter of 2019 with Quanta having the biggest increase due to Google's order ramp-up, but Quanta's orders from Google still experienced an on-year drop in the quarter.Inventec's orders from major clients all picked up sequentially in the second quarter of 2019, but its orders from Dell and HPE both shrank on year. Wiwynn's orders from the two major clients also increased sequentially, but compared to those of the same quarter a year ago, one went up, but the other went down.China-based server brand Inspur began in-house server motherboard production at plants in Suzhou, China in June 2019 and its outsourcing to Taiwan makers are expected to drop and affect Taiwan's share of the worldwide server shipments.