South Korea released the K-Network 2030 strategy in February 2023, aimed at building state-of-the-art communication networks and making South Korea an ICT and Internet superpower, and DIGITIMES has studied the strategy to find out what the country is eyeing to do for the next several years.

There are 14 working groups in MIH. By organizing its members into working groups based on area of expertise, MIH looks to consolidate the resources and accelerate the realization of software-defined vehicles (SDV). MIH has designed a software architecture that accommodates all types of software and hardware platforms and simplifies automotive software development.

Based on DIGITIMES Research's studies on Japan's 5G network rollout and applications across different frequency bands, the deployment of mmWave remains challenging and its population coverage is very limited at slightly above 0%.

Entering 2023, most countries worldwide, especially emerging markets, are still struggling from high inflation and see weakening consumer demand as a result. DIGITIMES Research estimates that global smartphone shipments slipped 13.2% on year to come to only 264 million in the first quarter of 2023 and will witness an on-year decline of 6.4% to reach volumes of 257 million units in the second quarter.

The global top-5 notebook brands, not including Apple, saw their combined shipments rise over 30% on month in May, while the top-3 ODMs together also achieved a similar shipment growth thanks to a recovery in North America's and Europe's education sectors and vendors' keen price cuts on older-generation consumer models for clearing up inventory.

Computex 2023 was hosted at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from May 30 through June 2 and DIGITIMES Research paid a visit to the show to survey and outline the trends that new AI servers showcased at the event feature including the increasing popularity of models powered by Nvidia's HGX H100 among the suppliers; AI servers with PCIe support trending toward high-density and high-application-flexibility development; servers powered by Nvidia's GH200 boasting the best performance running Nvidia's Large Language Model (LLM) and Nvidia's release of MGX reference server designs.

After surveying and analyzing the showcases at Taipei AMPA & Autotronics Taipei 2023 and E-Mobility Taiwan 2023 held in mid-April, DIGITIMES Research found that this year's event had a growing number of high-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor applications that significantly boost electrical vehicle (EV) efficiency, while the development of automotive electronics including mmWave radars, head-up displays (HUDs) and rear seat entertainment (RSE) systems are targeting mainly high-end applications.

India, with nearly 800 million 4G subscribers, began its deployment of the 5G network in the fourth quarter of 2022 with the country's top two telecom operators – Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel (Airtel) – separately announcing plans to achieve full 5G coverage nationwide by the end of 2023 or at the end of first-quarter 2024.

Smartphones shipped to the China market shrank to only 62 million units in the first quarter of 2023, down 12.4% sequentially and 7.2% on year, but the volumes in the second quarter are expected to stay at about the same level as in the first.

As IC packaging trends toward high density and multiple layers, IC substrates that use Ajinomoto Build-up Film (ABF) as an insulation material (also called ABF substrates) are gaining market attention. Japan was once a major IC substrate provider, but Taiwan has overtaken its market share.

The global top-5 notebook brands, not including Apple, saw their combined shipments slip around 30% from a month ago in April because of a high comparison base in March hiked by the brands' robust short-term orders.

First-quarter 2023 global tablet shipments came to only 29.44 million units, declining 17% from the prior quarter and 8% from the prior year as the market entered the traditional slow season; however, with brands' robust short-term orders, the volumes will only drop less than 1% sequentially in the second quarter.