The market is looking forward to the business opportunities of electric vehicles; however, the demand has been impacted by the weaker-than-expected macroeconomic growth.
The high, double-digit annual shipment growth rate of foldable smartphones has caused the market to view it as a crucial product line that will drive the turnaround in overall smartphone demand in 2024. There are reports that major companies like Samsung Electronics and Huawei plan to release budget versions of foldable smartphones in 2024 to boost sales even faster.
Rumors persist that Apple is interested in investing in the development of the Apple Car. Recent speculations suggest that Project Titan, which has never been officially confirmed, might be terminated. According to industry sources, Apple's current main contract assembler, Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), is not expected to be greatly affected despite its increasing emphasis on electric vehicles (EVs).
In 2023, Taiwan's exports declined by 9.8%, which is of course related to the weakening of electronics exports, but with a total export value of US$432.5 billion, a trade surplus of US$80.56 billion, and a surplus of over US$300 billion in tax revenue, the overall result is not too bad. S&P Global projects a 19.2% growth for Taiwan's exports in 2024. What can be expected optimistically and what should be planned for?
According to reports, Apple has abandoned its nearly decade-long electric vehicle (EV) R&D and production strategy, leaving many wondering how this will impact Taiwan's ICT supply chain.
In university, I studied electrical engineering, and at that time, semiconductors were an emerging field. The electronics courses we took still taught vacuum tubes. It wasn't until near graduation that a visiting professor from abroad started teaching courses on semiconductors. After completing my military service, I went to the United States to study computer engineering. Computer engineering is closely related to semiconductors, as semiconductor chips gradually replaced vacuum tubes as components of computers. In 1978, after graduating from graduate school, I found a job as a design engineer in Silicon Valley, California, and began to delve into advanced microprocessor design.
In 2023, 940 plus publicly listed electronics companies in Taiwan reported a total of US$833 billion in revenues, down 12.6% from US$953 billion in 2022. This number reflected the global industry struggle last year. Looking ahead into 2024, many electronic company executives said they expect a gradual rebound this year. However, we observe that not only the pace of the rebound is slower than expected, but the strength in the rebounds is also significantly different in sectors.
In recent years, Synaptics, a leading US-based IC design firm, has undergone a transformation, refocusing its efforts on IoT applications. This strategic shift included divesting its mobile Touch with Display Driver (TDDI) business and reallocating resources to the automotive electronics sector. Despite maintaining a robust presence in traditional areas like PC touchpads and fingerprint recognition chips, Synaptics has strategically expanded its IoT product line through acquisitions and in-house research and development.
Newcomers to the industry are often intimidated by the flexibility and diversity of the strategies of the traditional large companies that are constantly responding to change. When analyzing industry trends, real-time information is needed with industry knowledge accumulated over the years. We have selected 10 issues enterprises must pay attention to in 2024 for this series of column articles.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger wants the company to become the world's second-largest foundry service provider by 2030. With the right partners, it may achieve the goal faster than expected. Although many in the industry see its collaboration with United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) have a high potential for joint venture or merger, will Intel be discerning enough to see the value of a perfectly complementary partnership?
The memory market has rebounded from the previous trough, led by NAND Flash's multi-fold price surge. However, the NAND business of many integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) is still in the red. Further integration between Western Digital (WD) and Kioxia is seen as the inevitable solution for the less fortunate.
NearLink (also known as SparkLink), China's homegrown wireless communication technology, entered commercialization in 2023 after being led by Huawei and supported by more than 400 Chinese companies. NearLink aims to reduce China's reliance on international standards, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, dominated by the US.
Samsung beware: As Intel Foundry (IF) is now collaborating with TSMC to accomplish an advanced packaging mission to meet customer's needs, it is aiming for something bigger.
