In the competitive smartphone maket, product differentiation is one of the crucial factors to attract customers. Handset vendors are now looking to customized chips to achieve such production differentiation, with Xiaomi reportedly working closely with MediaTek on developing 5G SoCs for its phones. In the display sector, the moves of Samsung Display and LG Display to quit LCD production have sent TV vendors looking elsewhere for panel support, which in turn is increasing demand for driver ICs and TV SoCs from non-Korean suppliers. In the EV sector, supply of SiC wafers is expect to become tight, with suppliers now looking to expand production capacity.
Xiaomi, MediaTek reportedly team up for custom smartphone chips: Chinese handset vendor Xiaomi reportedly will work more closely with MediaTek to jointly develop customized SoCs for 5G smartphones after having its Redmi 10X series adopt the chipmaker's Dimensity 820 mobile processor, according to industry sources.
Prices for TV SoCs, driver ICs set to rise: Taiwan's IC designers are mulling raising quotes for TV SoCs and driver ICs amid increasingly tight supply as Korean vendors gradually quit production of LCD panels and TVs as well as related chips solutions, according to industry sources.
SiC wafer in robust demand for EV applications: The supply of SiC wafers may become insufficient to satisfy demand for electric vehicles (EV) in the near future, prompting Taiwan-based silicon wafer makers including GlobalWafers, Wafer Works and Tainergy Tech to step up deployments in the new segment, according to industry sources.