More Taiwan-based players in the IT supply chain, including Foxconn Electronics, Inventec, Largan Precision and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), are eyeing orders from Xiaomi Technology as the China-based smartphone vendor has continued to ramp up its shipments globally, according to industry sources.
Xiaomi shipped over 70 million smartphones in 2017 and is likely to push its shipments to 100 million units in 2018, according to an industry estimate.
Additionally, Xiaomi is considering an IPO issue in order to raise funds to deepen its deployments in R&D and marketing, as well as in overseas expansion, which will add more pressure on rival vendors including Oppo, Vivo and also Asustek Computer, the sources said.
However, Xiaomi's enhanced shipment capability and its ability to continue ramping up the price/performance ratios of its products means more business opportunities for Taiwan-based suppliers.
Xiaomi's president Lin Bin has called on Largan Precision recently, reportedly to secure more production capacity at the lens module company to ensure its orders for multi-lens modules for its high-end models will be fulfilled smoothly in the second half of 2018.
Xiaomi is currently fabricating its Surge S2 application processors at TSMC using a 16nm process. Although the initial order volume is not significant, the follow-up orders from Xiaomi could expand substantially along with its improving chipset-developing capability, the sources asserted.
Xiaomi is also likely to use Qualcomm's 7nm advanced processors, which are aslo to be made at TSMC, the sources added.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi has joined forces with Foxconn to set up a PCB lamination plant in India as Xiaomi has continued gaining ground in the market. Xiaomi outperformed Samsung Electronics to become the largest smartphone vendor in India in the fourth quarter of 2017.
More Taiwan companies eyeing orders from Xiaomi
Photo: Digitimes file photo
Article translated by Steve Shen
