Panasonic has started production at new automotive Li battery factories in Japan, the US and China and is expected to maintain the status as the global largest maker. In addition, Panasonic has extended production to LED automotive lighting, according to Digitimes Research.Panasonic has extended production of Li-ion batteries to automotive models due to increasing competition from South Korea-based makers and stagnant growth in global demand for notebooks, Digitimes Research indicated.Panasonic shipped 4,552MWh of automotive Li-ion batteries in 2015 for a global market share of 39.8%, followed by China-based BYD 14.4%, LG Chem 12.5%, Automotive Energy Supply 11.1%, Yuasa 5.2% and Samsung SDI 4.4%. Panasonic's leading market share was due to its partnership with Tesla which has adopted Panasonic batteries for its Model S and Model X. In addition, Panasonic and Tesla have set up Gigafactory, a joint-venture Li-ion battery factory, in Nevada.Panasonic's LED automotive lighting features GaN-on-GaN LED chips on aluminum nitride substrates which offer higher brightness and better heat dissipation.

Global tablet shipments will bounce back 16.3% sequentially to reach nearly 47 million units in the third quarter, but the volume will still be down over 10% compared to the same quarter a year ago, showing the market is still in no condition of recovering, according to Digitimes Research.The sequential shipment growth is attributed to vendors' inventory build-ups for the year-end holidays in Europe and North America and the fact that several emerging markets have seen improved economies, which has increased tablet demand, Digitimes Research said.Despite the absence of new models for the second half of 2016, Apple will see its tablet shipment dip only slightly on year to 9.5 million units in the third quarter thanks to steady demand for 9.7-inch iPad Pro. However, shipments by white-box tablet makers are expected to increase significantly to 18.5 million units in the third quarter on growing shipments to retail shops in the US and Europe and an easing in the supply of some key parts and components.While non-Apple tablet vendors will benefit from inventory build-ups in the third quarter, most brands still remain conservative about their business outlook. Among them, Samsung Electronics will see its shipment momentum fade during the peak season as its new entry-level and mid-range models will face increasing competition from China brands.Lenovo may temporarily outperform Amazon to take the third position in third-quarter rankings, but its tablet business unit has decided to shift its focus to Chromebooks and other Android devices. Amazon will see its shipments decline in the third quarter due to product shifts in the quarter.Shipments of tablets from Taiwan-based ODMs are expected to drop to a new low level in the third quarter due to decreased orders from Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, Digitimes Research noted.

China's mobile application processor (AP) market is forecast to reach a total of 166 million units in the second quarter of 2016, up 7.8% sequentially, according to Digitimes Research.MediaTek saw its smartphone AP shipments increase 8.1% sequentially in the second quarter, thanks to strong shipments of its mid-range and entry-level 4G solutions, said Digitimes Research. Meanwhile, rival Qualcomm enjoyed brisk shipments of its mid-range and high-end smartphone solutions with shipments rising a higher 12.9% on quarter.Spreadtrum's smartphone AP shipments climbed 16.7% sequentially in the second quarter, buoyed by a pull-in of orders from emerging markets, Digitimes Research indicated. HiSilicon, however, saw its smartphone AP shipments decline 24% on quarter due to its less-competitive high-end offering and unreadiness of its mid-range products, Digitimes Research said.As for tablet APs, MediaTek's shipments registered a 25% sequential increase in the second quarter, while Rockchip posted shipment growth of only 4.3%, according to Digitimes Research. Meanwhile, Allwinner's tablet AP shipments grew 10% on quarter while Intel's shipments increased 16.7%.

Qualcomm will manage to extend its lead in the smartphone applications processor market in the second half of 2016 thanks to its competitive high-end and mid-range solutions, according to Digitimes Research.Qualcomm's high-end and mid-range chips for smartphones are all built using Samsung's 14nm process technology. The Snapdragon 821 is only a minor performance upgrade over the 820, and has become popular among smartphone manufacturers, said Digitimes Research.MediaTek is losing its competitiveness to Qualcomm due to late availability of its 16nm chips. Meanwhile, with competitors promoting 14/16nm chips for both the mid-range and high-end segments, MediaTek will gradually phase out 20nm solutions in favor of 16nm, Digitimes Research indicated.MediaTek has already seen several of its customers shift to Qualcomm's processors due to misalignment between its supply planning and actual demand, Digitimes Research said.Spreadtrum is looking to transition to 16nm chips, but the solutions are still immature to satisfy customers. Therefore, 28nm chips will remain Spreadtrum's major product line until 2017, and the company continues to make low price its strategy, Digitimes Research said.

The Japan Revitalization Strategy 2016 calls for the development of key technologies related to the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), including IoT, robot and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and also aims to push Japan's GDP to reach JPY600 trillion (US$5.992 trillion) by 2021 by focusing on a number of emerging industries such as self-driving, medicare and smart factories. However, to accelerate the development of Industry 4.0 and new emerging industries, the government is expected to inject a significant amount of capital and human resources to develop related AI technologies in the next 10 years, according to Digitimes Research.The revitalization strategy also calls for joint efforts by the government and private sector in a total of 10 segments, including Industry 4.0, health, green energy, sports, real estate, services, agriculture, tourism, revolution of small and medium enterprises, and igniting domestic demand. Additionally, the development of Industry 4.0 products will cover revolution in industrial systems, application of Big Data, industrial innovation and talent cultivation. The development of Industry 4.0 aims to create added value of up to JPY30 trillion by 2020.For the development of Industry 4.0 applications, the government will encourage innovation in the IoT industry by offering cooperation initiatives, capital support, adjustment of relevant regulations, and strategy implementation.According to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the development of Industry 4.0 is expected to cause losses of 7.35 million jobs by 2030, and therefore it calls for concrete efforts to switch these jobs to new segments. The government will earmark JPY10 billion to cultivate talent needed for the AI industry, Digitimes Research noted.

China is set to improve the self-sufficiency rate for ICs in the nation to 40% in 2020, and could even exceed the target ratio, according to Digitimes Research.The "Made in China 2025" published by China's State Council in May 2015 clearly outlines that the nation is aiming to raise its self-sufficiency rate for ICs to 40% in 2020, and 70% in 2025.Digitimes Research forecasts that China's 12-inch pure-play foundries will see their combined production capacity grow substantially by the end of 2018. A leap in 12-inch wafer capacity could help the nation ramp up the self-sufficiency rate for production of chips to more than 40% by 2025.Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) and the Beijing municipal government have set an example of how China's local governments and IC companies can build a relationship with each other. The pair in May 2012 announced plans to establish jointly a 12-inch fab in Beijing. In June 2013, Northern SMIC Semiconductor Manufacturing (Beijing) - a joint venture between SMIC, state-owned Beijing Industrial Development Investment Management and Zhongguancun Development Group - was formed. Northern SMIC in February 2015 successfully attracted investment from China's National Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund (known as the Big Fund).China's local governments including the governments of Xiamen, Hefei, Nanjing and Chongqing all intend to follow suit by partnering with foundries to build their local IC industry clusters. In addition, the governments of Dalian and Hubei are both pouring efforts into the establishment of a cluster of 3D NAND flash sector.

The top-5 notebook brand vendors saw their combined shipments drop 32% on month and the top-3 ODMs together saw a decline of 25% in July due to increased channel inventory pileup, weakening demand for Chromebooks because of the slow season, vendors' conservative shipments prior to the release of new Wintel products, and the fact that some vendors started aggressive price competition in Europe and North America in May and June, which dramatically increased the vendors' shipments in both months and thus raise the base comparison level.Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard (HP) both had over 40% on-month declines in July notebook shipments. Because of its high inventory level, Lenovo had higher pressure placing orders and only had shipments slightly higher than HP, according to Digitimes Research's latest notebook figures.After experiencing six consecutive months of growth, Dell suffered declines both on month and on year in July shipments as demand from the enterprise sector and for Chromebooks turned weak. As for Taiwan-based vendors, Asustek Computer's shipments performed better than those of Acer in the month.Compared to the top-5 vendors, the top-3 ODMs' combined notebook shipments had a smaller decline in the month since Lenovo, which had a major drop in July shipments, only accounted for a rather small portion of Taiwan's overall shipments, while ODMs' shipments for Apple's new MacBooks also helped slow the decline.The top-3 ODMs' combined shipments dropped 6% on year in July as Compal Electronics' orders from its China- and US-based clients suffered a significant drop. Wistron had the best performance among the top-3 because of new orders from Xiaomi and the fact its existing clients only slightly reduced their orders for the month.

Shipments of white-box tablets are expected to reach 39 million units in the second half of 2016, a 30% increase compared to those shipped in the first half of the year, buoyed by an easing in component supplies and pricing, as well as an expected pick-up in demand from the US and Europe, according to Digitimes Research.However, shipments of white-box tablets in the second half of 2016 will still represent a decrease of 6.3% from a year earlier period, the smallest range of on-year decline for the period since 2014. This is likely to signal an end to the retrenchment in shipment and an easing of price competition due to a concentration of the white-box tablet makers, allowing the industry to swing back to a healthy development track, Digitimes Research asserted.The shortages in the supply of panels will be eased at the end of the third quarter thanks to increased supplies, and price hikes for memory products will also become milder in the second half of the year due to capacity ramps by memory device makers.Demand for Wi-Fi-only tablets from the mature markets in the US and Europe will increase significantly in the second half due to peak-season effects, while demand from the Southeast Asia region will remain steady. Orders from South America are expected to rebound slightly due to short-term economic factors stirred by 2016 Rio Olympics.In terms of product sizes, the share of 7-inch tablets will rebound to 54% in the fourth quarter of 2016 due to seasonal demand. However, the shares held by 8- and 10-inch models will also increase proportionally.As for tablet application processors (APs), the share of MediaTek's APs is expected to drop to 45% in the second half of 2016 due to keen competition from Spreadtrum Communications and increased seasonal demand for Wi-Fi-only tablets. Intel will see its share climb to over 16% in the second half amid its efforts to clear out inventories of SoFIA chips, Digitimes Research said.

Worldwide notebook shipments are expected to drop 7.3% on year to below 150 million units in 2016 as Windows 10's new anniversary update is not attractive enough to prompt a lot users to purchase new PCs and Intel's Kaby Lake-based processors only had a small upgrade from the previous-generation models and were delayed in shipments plus emerging markets are seeing weakening demand.In the second half of the year, US-based vendors will perform better than the rest of the first-tier brand vendors. Hewlett-Packard (HP) will become more aggressive on price competition in the second half with complete product lines and will surpass Lenovo to become the largest in the third quarter by a small shipment gap, according to Digitimes Research's latest notebook report.Dell, which mainly focuses on the enterprise sector, will see growing shipments in both the third and fourth quarters, but the growth scale will not be as strong as those of competitors that mainly target the consumer sector.Apple had an unsatisfactory shipment performance in the first half of the year, but its notebook shipments in the second half will grow over 40% from the first with upgrades in mid-range and high-end MacBook products.Lenovo, which has been suffering from channel inventory pileups, will not be able to see its shipments rise strongly until the fourth quarter. As for Taiwan-based vendors, Acer will have a better performance in the second half due to its weak first-half shipments.As for ODMs, Quanta Computer's shipments will account for almost 40% of Taiwan's overall shipments in the second half of the year. Compal will see its shipment proportion drop sequentially in the second half of the year, as its orders from Dell are weakening plus Lenovo has been increasing its in-house production rate and relatively reducing its orders to Compal.Wistron will see increasing orders from HP and new orders from Xiaomi.

Smartphone Shipments in the China market totaled 149 million units in the second quarter of 2016, representing an increase of 2.7% on quarter and 14.3% on year, according to data compiled by Digitimes Research.Sales of high-end models from Apple and Samsung Electronics continued to suffer declines in the second quarter as local smartphone vendors focused on promoting entry-level and mid-range 4G models capitalizing on subsidies offered by the top-three telecom operators, Digitimes Research noted.Huawei led all vendors to take the number one title in vendor rankings in China in the second quarter with a 14% share, followed by Oppo with 12.7%, Vivo 11.2%, Xiaomi Technology 10.4%. Apple took the fifth position with its market share falling into a single-digit range.The double-digit shipment growth rates enjoyed by China-based smartphone vendors in the first two quarters of 2016 were higher than the growth rates of smartphones shipped to consumers from retail channel operators, resulting in an increasing pile-up of inventories at channels.Overall smartphone shipments in China are likely to drop slightly on year in the fourth quarter of 2016, affected by inventory corrections in the retail channel, Digitimes Research forecast.