DIGITIMES Research expects global smartphone shipments in the third and fourth quarter of 2022 to both drop over 10% on year, resulting in declines for six quarters straight, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest figures from the Smartphone tracker.
Autonomous driving chip developers, based on their business types, can be separated into four major camps – automotive chip IDM/designers, ICT chip companies, emerging automotive chip developers, and automakers with an in-house chip R&D team – with each having its advantages in competitions, according to DIGITIMES Research's analysis.
Japan-based Daikin is planning to develop chips for its home appliances in-house and its own-brand air conditioning products will begin adopting the in-house developed chips in 2025 at the earliest. China-based Leapmotor became the fourth local automaking startup to be listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) at the end of September and China's second-tier automakers such as NETA and Leapmotor have begun catching up to first-tier automakers such as Xpeng, NIO and Li Auto in terms of auto sales. Battery makers CATL, LG Energy Solution (LGES), and Samsung SDI have all recently unveiled their latest battery technology that can help improve battery cells and modules.
"Taiwan's ICT companies have a longtime focus on hardware advancement, capable of agile and flexible development to adapt to unprecedented circumstances. For example, the services and system integration providers can team up with Taiwan ICT suppliers to develop 5G services targeting different industries vertically such as smart cities, transportation, banking, and smart manufacturing, then sky will be the limit for the global 5G application growth," said Roger Huang, director of DIGITIMES Research.
Overall shipments of the four iPhone 14 models in 2022 are expected to reach between 78-83 million units with production volumes to arrive at 83-88 million units, weaker than those of the iPhone 13 series in 2021, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest smartphone figures.
Sony and WS Audiology have teamed up developing hearing aids, planning to make them available in the US market in October. CATL and EVE Energy will supply large cylindrical batteries for BMW's new cars starting from 2025, and several battery companies are planning to mass produce 46800 batteries. Commercialization of Hyundai's third-generation fuel cells will be delayed from 2023 to 2027, thanks to technical difficulties and uncertain demand.
The observations of this issue's Asia Enterprise include SK Hynix plans to invest KRW15 trillion (US$10.8 billion) to build a new factory in Cheongju, South Korea in five years. The company is boldly investing in the memory market during the downturn. Geely, Huawei, and Apple are all introducing innovative services of mobile communication combined with satellite communication. Nikon increases investment in 3D printing for metal, aerospace, and automotive applications.
With the increasing usage of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and over-reliance on technologies, drivers are more likely to be distracted while behind the wheel, making the adoption of in-cabin monitoring systems (ICMS) rather critical.
