The production value of South Korea's memory chip industry increased 5.5% sequentially to KRW19.8 trillion (US$17.06 billion) in the third quarter of 2019, according to Digitimes Research.

There has been much hype about the arrival of the 5G era, but 4G is still very much alive and kicking. Global smartphone sales have slowed down in 2019, but Taiwanese IC designers have seen demand for 4G smartphone chips rebound in the fourth quarter of the year...

Following several months of aggressive inventory build-up in the wake of the US trade ban, Huawei has slowed down the pace of orders for Taiwanese chip suppliers in the fourth quarter, as it conducts year-end stock-taking. But Huawei's order momentum is expected to resume in first-quarter 2020...

Combined revenues of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) are expected to hit another record-high level in the fourth quarter of 2019, Digitimes Research estimates.

Server demand may have been slow in 2019 with clients adjusting inventory, but orders are expected to pick up in 2020. Major suppliers are eyeing different segments for server shipment growth. The year 2020 is promising not just for the server supply chain; the semiconductor sector is also looking forward to strong growth, to be fueled particularly by 5G commercialization...

Semiconductor players including TSMC, UMC as well as GaAs foundries and backend firms are seeing their production utilization rates picking up as demand from clients and emerging applications has been rising. Meanwhile, demand for chips used in TWS earphones is also expected to soar in 2020.

Sony and Samsung Electronics have been competing head to head in the CMOS image sensor (CIS) market in order to maintain their leadership, using their respective technology advantages, according to Digitimes Research.

Shipments of smartphone application processors (APs) to China are forecast to decline 4.6% on year in the fourth quarter of 2019, following a decline of 9.4% in the third quarter from a year earlier to 210 million units (excluding those used in ODM models made for Samsung), according to Digitimes Research.

Apple reportedly is partnering with US game developer Valve for its AR product that will be manufactured by Quanta and Pegatron. Meanwhile, Asustek's gaming smartphone's shipments in 2019 are expected to be less than planned originally due to issues with component supply...

Global tablet shipments for the fourth quarter of 2019 are expected to increase 4.5% on year to the same level as recorded in the third quarter as both Apple and non-Apple brand vendors are likely to see their shipments pick up in the quarter, according to Digitimes Research.