In recent years, Samsung Electronics has adopted custom-designed application processors (APs) from Qualcomm for its flagship smartphones, eliminating performance controversies associated with Samsung's own APs. However, this has led to a significant increase in AP procurement costs. During the first three quarters of 2023 alone, Samsung's AP procurement costs reached a staggering US$7 billion.
China, in an attempt to counter the external narrative of "supply chain relocation" and "decoupling," made a significant move by hosting the inaugural China International Supply Chain Expo ("Chain Expo") in Beijing. Several Apple's suppliers attended together to demonstrate Apple's commitment to deepening its roots in China and showcasing the strength of local suppliers.
Compeq Manufacturing, a major high-density interconnect (HDI) printed circuit board (PCB) producer, said its third-quarter 2023 sales revenues and earnings are showing early signs of recovery from the previous doldrums. Many customers are inquiring about the capacities of its Thai factory, according to Compeq spokesperson.
Chinese brand vendors releasing new handset models are providing support for related peripheral IC suppliers' sales in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to industry sources.
The landscape of the IC design industry presents a mixed picture regarding the recent upturn in the mobile phone and PC markets. While some IC design companies have delivered promising revenue growth amid positive forecasts from major mobile SoC vendors like MediaTek and Qualcomm, cautious voices within the IC design sector express reservations about the transient nature of the current market recovery, and some industry insiders have asserted that the rebound may not materialize until the second half of 2024.
Taiwan-based plastic aspherical lens design and production firm Largan Co. Ltd. announced that its October revenue totaled NT$6.3 billion (US$196 million), up 22% from the same period last year and an increase of 14% from September. It is also the highest monthly record so far in 2023. The accumulated revenues in the first 10 months amounted to NT$37.3 billion, down 3% from the same period last year.
After a prolonged period of low performance, the Chinese mobile phone market is showing signs of gradual recovery. The recent reentry of Huawei into the 5G mobile phone market with its Mate 60 series has played a pivotal role in this resurgence. As a result, terminal brand vendors have been strengthening their competitiveness in the high-end product lines, driving an increase in MOSFET shipments at Taiwanese suppliers like Force-MOS Technology and Nuvoton Technology, according to market observers.
Third-quarter 2023 shipments of smartphone application processors (AP) to Chinese handset vendors increased by 47.5% quarter-on-quarter, as inventory had dropped to healthy levels. The increase was driven by handset brand vendors' early preparation for the arrival of the second-half 2023 peak, demand from overseas markets (beyond China), and efforts by Hisilicon – Huawei's IC design arm – to push into the 5G AP market according to DIGITIMES Research's latest figures from China smartphone AP report.
In an era defined by global economic shifts, supply chain complexities, and ever-increasing uncertainty, companies must constantly adapt to survive and thrive. One company at the forefront of this transformative journey is Kinaxis, a Canadian supply chain solution provider co-founded by Duncan Klett in 1984. Kinaxis is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with a market cap of nearly US$3 billion as of November 2023.
Taiwan-based communication networking company Alpha Networks anticipates wireless broadband networking products and digital multimedia products to be the driving force of fourth-quarter sales growth and has decided to focus on Vietnam for further expansion in production capacities, said Matthew Chung, spokesman and head of investor relations of the company.
In response to the strong sales of Huawei's Mate 60 series smartphones, JNTC, the South Korean supplier of curved mobile cover glass, is gearing up for significant revenue growth in 2023. The company is expanding its manufacturing base in Vietnam to meet the surging demand, which can be attributed to Huawei's flagship Mate 60 Pro.
Reducing carbon emissions has become an imperative for businesses, whether through adopting renewable energy sources for power or prioritizing energy-efficient practices within their operations. Research from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom indicates that if carbon emissions from the ICT industry remain at 2020 levels and global emissions continue to decline in line with the Paris Agreement, the ICT sector's share of global carbon emissions will steadily increase. By 2050, it is projected to account for a significant 35.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The handset market has seen inventoy return to healthy levels with orders from handset vendors starting to pick up for the year-end shopping, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
India approved an MoC with Japan for chip development. An Indian delegation visits Taiwan to attend annual bilateral meetings with government and industry leaders, seeking investments from Taiwan, including in semiconductors.
Largan Precision Chairperson Lin En-Ping announced in the 2023 third-quarter earnings call that "demand for high-end [handset] models is better than expected," revealing that its clients are placing additional orders for high-end handsets due to the improved end-market sales performance.
Corning reportedly is set to exclusively supply ultra-thin tempered glass (UTG) for Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Flip 5. This move could potentially confirm the speculation that Samsung is in the process of restructuring its supply chain for foldable cover windows, with Schott Glaswerke AG as the sole supplier for the Galaxy Z Fold 5.
The Mate 60 series' great commercial success in China has given Huawei a boost in confidence with various media reporting that the Chinese brand is already stockpiling components and preparing for the mass production of its next generation of smartphones, codename "P70", scheduled to be launched in 2024.
The MediaTek Dimensity 9300 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 are set to be officially unveiled soon, and there is significant external interest in the potential for generative AI applications to find their place at the edge and introduce new selling points for mobile devices.
Largan Precision, a specialist in smartphone lens modules, expects improving periscope lens production yields to lift its gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2023.
TSMC is expected to see 4-6% of its overall sales in 2023 come from its N3 (3nm) manufacturing, thanks to orders from Apple for making processors running its iPhone 15 devices, according to industry sources.
Samsung Electronics is set to launch its flagship smartphone Galaxy S24 series in 2024, and has reportedly confirmed the simultaneous adoption of its in-house new-generation application processor (AP) Exynos 2400 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processors.
Samsung Electronics recently held a System LSI Tech Day event in the United States and announced the launch of a new mobile AP: Exynos 2400. Samsung indicated that the Exynos 2400 offers a 1.7 times improvement in CPU performance and a 14.7 times improvement in AI performance compared to the previous Exynos 2200.
