The production value of South Korea's memory chip industry is expected to increase about 5% sequentially in the second quarter of 2016, according Digitimes Research. Demand for smartphones and other mobile devices is picking up, but chip prices continue to fall.The production value of memory chips, including DRAM and NAND flash, in Korea slipped below KRW11.50 trillion (US$9.66 billion) in the first quarter of 2016, due to poor end-market demand as well as falling chip prices, said Digitimes Research. Despite a recent pick-up in demand, prices, particularly prices for DRAM, continue to slide limiting the overall industry output value growth.Meanwhile, the production value of South Korea's memory chip industry fell as a proportion of the worldwide industry output value to less than 60% in the first quarter of 2016, Digitimes Research indicated.

Combined shipments of Wintel-based notebooks (excluding detachable models) from the top-five Wintel notebook vendors: Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asustek Computer and Acer declined 39% on month and 1% on year to 7.38 million units in April, according to data compiledby Digitimes Research.Meanwhile, shipments of Wintel notebooks from the three major: ODMs Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Wistron totaled below six million units in April, slipping 33% sequentially and 20% on year, Digitimes Research added.Among brand vendors, Dell outperformed Lenovo and HP to rank the number one Wintel notebook vendor in April thanks to strong demand in the business sectors in the US and Europe.Both Lenovo and HP suffered an over 50% sequential decline in shipments of Wintel models in April due to a strong base set a month earlier, while Asustek's monthly growth was the second highest due to increased shipments of gaming notebooks.Compal saw its shipments tumble 47% on month in April as HP and Lenovo together cut their orders by 1.5 million units in the month.Meanwhile, Quanta and Wistron also saw their Wintel notebook shipments decline over 20% sequentially in April, Digitimes Research noted.

Wi-SUN (wireless smart utility network), the Japan-developed wireless communication technology used in management of connected home appliances, has been popularly in the Japan market due to low power consumption, long-distance communications and high physical penetrability. But there are problems internationalizing Wi-SUN, according to Digitimes Research.The problems are mainly: Wi-SUN is operated on unlicensed 920MHz radio frequency band, and the band is used in Japan and the US but not in Europe; there are few international members of ECHONET Consortium, an organization to boost smart-home communication protocol ECHONET and therefore it is difficult to promote ECHONET Lite standards outside Japan; cost for Wi-SUN modules is too high to be internationally price-competitive, Digitimes Research indicated.Japan-based National Institute of Information and Communications Technology led the development of Wi-SUN based on IEEE 802.15.4g and then formed Wi-SUN Alliance with leading Japan-based suppliers of smart meters for specifying Wi-SUN standards.Japan-based power companies in 2013 adopted Wi-SUN standards for communications between smart meters and HEMS (home energy management system) and later adopted Wi-SUN HAN (home area network) standards for communications between HEMS and various connected home-use electric appliances.In addition to smart home management, Wi-SUN has been recently applied to locating lost old people with dementia and to agriculture.

Shipments of smartphones by Taiwan-based handset brands and ODMs are expected to reach 12.6 million units in the second quarter of 2016, down 9.7% sequentially and 42.9% on year, Digitimes Research has estimated.Brand vendors HTC, Asustek Computer and Acer will see their combined shipments grow 15% sequentially in the second quarter, but ODMs including Compal Electronics, the Foxconn Group, Arima Communications and Wistron will see their shipments decline by 15% during the same period.HTC is expected to ramp up its shipments to 3.2 million units in the second quarter from 2.5-3 million of a quarter earlier, buoyed by the release of its new flagship HTC One M10 and other mid-range models.Asustek is expected to ship 4.4 million smartphones in the second quarter as it will begin to ship its new ZenFone 3 series products in June, while demand for its ZenFone 2 models still remain strong.However, decreasing ODM orders will contribute to a decline in overall smartphone shipments by Taiwan's brands and ODMs in the second quarter, said Digitimes Research.Combined shipments of ODM models by Arima Communications, Compal Electronics and the Foxconn Group to Sony Mobile Communications in the second quarter will be comparable to those shipped a quarter earlier.But Compal alone is expected to see its overall shipments slip to 2.3 million units in the second quarter compared to 3.7 million shipped in the previous quarter due to decreased orders from LeTV, Digitimes Research said.

Governments around the world entered into a global climate deal at the recent Paris climate summit and therefore are enforcing related measures. Amid the growing trend, the top priority is how to improve buildings that are generally considered the most energy consuming. How to make use of technology such as IoT solutions and smart analytics to raise building operation efficiency is a critical topic.Construction of Tatung Smart Manor, a large smart green community on a plot of land measuring 16,000 pings (52892.8 square meters), recently broke ground. The project is likely to become the first residential complex in New Taipei City to be awarded with both the Diamond-Grade and Gold-Grade Green Building Candidate Certificates. It combines energy saving, carbon reduction and water conservation concepts and features smart home, smart healthcare, smart security control and smart grid functionalities for the community. Tatung Smart Manor is a landmark of smart green buildings that brings concepts to life.Breeze Yeh, Director, Smart Solution Business Unit, Tatung, indicates the Tatung Smart Manor project will be completed in three phases. The construction that has just begun falls in the first phase, including three smart green residential buildings with apartments having indoor floor space ranging from 22 pings to 72 pings. The project highlights the goal of reaching "433," meaning a 40% reduction in carbon emissions and a 30% reduction in both electricity and water consumption.Connecting devices, systems and cloud to build up an all-in-one smart projectWhether the "433" goal can be achieved depends on close cooperation among end devices in people's homes, middle-tier architectures and the cloud platforms. Tatung, founded as a home appliance vendor and then expanding into the industrial appliance, motor, energy and ICT sectors, has built up R&D capabilities required for building smart homes, smart buildings, and even smart communities. As such, Tatung is able to unshackle itself from the conventional thinking of constructors and bring to life a top-notch community of smart homes that is rarely seen in Taiwan.A smart apartment complex generally has to include at least three layers of smart living designs - the smart home, smart building and smart community. The smart home needs a smart home service gateway and more importantly, a smart in-home display (IHD) that serves as a communication interface between the home owner and the smart system. It should provide various scenario templates - such as those for home entertainment, sleep, and the time when the occupants are away from home - to meet the home owner's actual needs in everyday life. The different templates provide different settings of lighting, air conditioning, and curtains to achieve a safer, more convenient, more comfortable and greener life.Take Tatung Smart Manor for example. Every home is equipped with an automatic gas shutoff valve and a smart electricity meter supporting as many as 12 circuit loops. By making use of the smart meter and Big Data analytics, home owners can compare power consumption among different circuit loops and thereby find possible improvements on the electricity use in different areas. By comparing the energy consumption on the same circuit loop before and after a certain period of time, one can even see if some old devices are no longer energy-efficient, and therefore should be replaced.As to the smart building and public facilities, Tatung Smart Manor has sensors densely distributed throughout the common areas for the purposes of energy saving and security control. Take the swimming pool for example. Detectors for water flow, chlorine content and carbon dioxide levels are thoughtfully installed to help security guards monitor the swimming pool and determine when to close it or if there is still anyone swimming in the pool. Furthermore, chlorine content and carbon dioxide concentration readings can serve as the basis for the control of automatic opening and closing of smart windows.Making good use of IoT sensor technologies to build green, safe and healthy livingIn addition, micro weather stations are set up at outdoor areas of Tatung Smart Manor to collect weather information and upload it onto the back-end system, giving the residents timely access to the information about current weather conditions (including the level of PM2.5, which is an increasing concern for the public) and weather advice from the system through an app program. It should also be mentioned that there is a health center in the common area of Tatung Smart Manor that has long-term care instruments for residents to check physiological data including blood pressure, blood sugar, blood oxygen and heart rates. The data can be uploaded to the Tatung cloud medical care platform for personal health management. The health center can also work with medical care institutions as extended support for senior citizens or people with chronic illness to seek online medical advice.Tatung Smart Manor also has solar power systems installed on the rooftops of all the buildings to provide power for the common areas of the buildings and shades for the apartments on the top floor. Furthermore, the community is also equipped with elevators that support height-different power generation and there are large ponds for rainwater harvesting. Sensors installed in soil and close to trees are meant for smart plant watering, along with other measures to reduce water and energy consumption.Yeh states that the implementation of smart green buildings and communities is not necessarily limited to new construction projects and can also be applied to improvement of existing buildings or communities, and in either case, efforts on both system development and construction work have to be combined. Tatung is capable of providing comprehensive services including project planning, construction and maintenance. Tatung can also gather a team of partners and work with the government on experimental projects to gain experience, thereby creating a whole new business model and further expanding worldwide.Breeze Yeh, Director, Smart Solution Business Unit, Tatung, points out the company integrates R&D capabilities in the home appliance, long-term care, solar energy, electrical power and water discharge sectors, and is well capable of planning and implementing construction projects, and providing maintenance services. This is why Tatung is able to unshackle itself from the conventional thinking of constructors and build a top-notch smart green community.

Combined revenues of Korea's major LCD driver IC vendors reached a record high of KRW419.4 billion (US$353.97 million) in 2015, with Silicon Works, a subsidiary of LG Electronics, accounting for 96% of total revenues, according to data compiled by Digitimes Research.Silicon Works' acquisition of a part of LUSEM's system IC business in the first half of 2015 has helped ramp up its revenues generated from large-size COF (chip on film) LCD driver ICs, said Digitimes Research, noting that Silicon Works' LCD driver IC revenues hit a record high of KRW402.6 billion in 2015.In comparison with Taiwan-based major LCD driver IC suppliers including Novatek Microelectronics, Himax Technologies, ILI Technology (Ilitek), FocalTech Systems and Raydium Semiconductor, only Silicon Works and FocalTech saw their revenues increase in 2015, while the four other Taiwan vendors suffered revenues declines in the year.FocalTech, a leading supplier of touchscreen controller ICs, managed to ramp up its revenues by taking control of LCD driver IC vendor Orise Technology in early 2015, Digitimes Research commented.Meanwhile, Silicon Works also saw its operating margin improve to 10.4% in 2015 from 9.1% of a year earlier, while all five Taiwan major LCD driver IC houses saw their operating margins slide down during the same period.Although Silicon Works' revenues were still lagging behind those of Novatek and Himax in 2015, Silicon Works' operating margin in the year was the second highest among the six major suppliers in Taiwan and Korea, Digitimes Research noted.

Combined revenues of Taiwan's major foundries: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) are forecast to reach US$8.02 billion in the second quarter of 2016, up 8.4% on quarter but down 0.9% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Rising demand for entry-level and mid-range smartphones in China and emerging markets, as well as a pick-up in orders from suppliers of wireless ICs, power management chips and LCD driver ICs led to the sequential growth, said Digitimes Research.During the second quarter, revenues generated from 28nm process technology have been driven by growing demand for entry-level and mid-range smartphones, Digitimes Research indicated. The node as a proportion of total revenues will rise in the second quarter.Meanwhile, revenues generated from 16nm process technology will also increase in the second quarter, when shipments for HiSilicon's and Apple's new mobile processors and Nvidia's GPU kick off, Digitimes Research noted. Of the total revenues generated by Taiwan's top foundries, 28nm and below processes will account for 50.4% in the second quarter compared with 45.2% in the first, Digitimes Research forecast.

Having digested their excessive inventory, smartphone vendors have stepped up the pace of placing chip orders in the second quarter of 2016, according to Digitimes Research. Smartphone vendors are also gearing up for the upcoming roll-outs of their new models.About 150 million application processors will be shipped to the China smartphone market in the second quarter of 2016, up 11.3% sequentially, according to Digitimes Research.In the second quarter, Spreadtrum's shipment growth on a sequential basis will outperform its competitors' thanks to strong shipments of its solutions for entry-level devices, Digitimes Research indicated. Spreadtrum's shipments will rise 16.7% on quarter.Meanwhile, Qualcomm's smartphone AP shipments in China will increase 12.9% sequentially in the second quarter, buoyed by shipments of its high-end Snapdragon 820 series, Digitimes Research noted. Qualcomm has also started shipping its 14nm products for mid-range smartphones.MediaTek will post an 8.1% shipment growth in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, Digitimes Research said. MediaTek will remain China's largest smartphone AP provider, but its market share is likely to fall to 44.7% in the second quarter from 46% in the first.

Taiwan-based TFT-LCD panel makers AU Optronics (AUO), Innolux, Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and HannStar Display will together ship 52.647 million large-size (above 9-inch) panels in the second quarter of 2016, increasing 6.5% on quarter but decreasing 9.1% on year and accounting for 32.9% of global total, according to Digitimes Research.Of the large-size panels, 31.5% will be used in TVs, 34.9% in notebooks, 21.7% in monitors, 9.1% in tablets and 2.8% in others, Digitimes Research indicated.AUO will ship 6.588 million TV panels, 9.855 million notebook-use units, 6.382 million monitor-use units and 1.970 million tablet-use units and Innolux's shipments will be 9.983 million units, 8.537 million units, 4.942 million units and 1.070 million units, respectively. CPT and HannStar Display will ship 1.5 million and 250,000 tablet panels respectively.

The production value of Taiwan's IC design industry is expected to increase 7.4% on year to NT$570.75 billion (US$17.4 billion) in 2016, according to Digitimes Research.Device vendors have started to replenish inventory since March, while demand in China's smartphone market is picking up. The industry should be able to generate sequential growth in production value through the third quarter, Digitimes Research indicated.Taiwan's IC design industry will continue to be led by MediaTek, which will have its Helio-series mobile SoCs drive the company's 2016 growth, Digitimes Research said.Digitimes Research also forecast that the production value of Taiwan's IC design service sector will rise 6.6% on year to NT$21.97 billion in 2016. And buoyed by new orders placed by IDMs and system vendors, NRE (non-recurring engineering) as a proportion of Taiwan's IC design service companies' combined revenues will climb further in 2016.