Despite speculation circulating in the supply chain that notebook shipments may start falling in 2022, brand vendors such as Dell and Asustek Computer remain optimistic about their notebook sales growth next year.

Intel has made aggressive moves trying to retake leadership in the foundry sector. If it is able to meet its schedule of technology advancements, Intel could close the gap against TSMC in five years. Conservative outlook from some of the big-name tech firms is not preventing Taiwanese ODMs from seeing strong server orders from datacenter clients. Monika Mikac, CBO of Barcelona-based QEV Technologies, and former COO of Croatian EV startup Rimac Automobili. Mikac, who will speak at the upcoming Asia Venturing (II): Tech-driven Mobility event, told Digitimes in a recent interview about developing e-bus platforms for emerging markets.

Taiwan-based server ODMs have enjoyed a strong pull-in of orders placed by US datacenter vendors with clear order visibility extended to the end of this year, according to industry sources.

EV development is fast acclerating. Jack Cheng, CEO of the Foxconn-led MIH Alliance, an open platofrm for EV development, believes the EV market may reach its sweet spot in 2025-2026. In the semiconductor sector, MediaTek has raised its outlook for for 2021, expecting its revenues to grow 45% this year. In China, Unisoc is seeing a sharp rise in adoption of its smartphone APs by Chinese phone vendors.

GaAs- and InP-based epitaxial wafer maker LandMark Optoelectronics (LMOC) has obtained orders of LD (laser diode) sensors from a US-based head-mounted device vendor, with trial production to begin in the third quarter of 2021 and volume production to kick off at the end of the year, according to the company.

The rising costs from logistics as well as components and materials have started bringing pressure to downstream brand vendors such as Apple and Asustek Computer, according to some market observers.

Given the ballpark yearly volume of about 200 million units for the notebook market, estimated worldwide shipment of 238 million units in 2021 outperforming 2020 by 19% is a rarely seen booming record for laptop. According to DIGITIMES Research's survey, notebook shipments reached 57.5 million units in first quarter of 2021, and 60 million units in the second quarter, and they will arrive at 62 million units in the third quarter, but will relapse to 58.1 million units in the final quarter.

Fabrinet is one of the world's largest manufacturers of optical transceivers. Headquartered in George Town, Cayman island, Fabrinet was founded in 2000 by Seagate co-founder David T. Mitchell with an initial capital of US$1 million.

The supply chain makers of Chromebooks reportedly have experienced a significant cutback of orders from their brand clients due to the dwindling demand for notebook products in the end market, according to industry sources.

Foxconn Technology (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has started installing equipment including lithography systems for high-end IC packaging at its chip plant in Qingdao, northeast China, according to industry sources.

The plant is set to kick off trial production in October, and will focus on packaging and testing 5G, AI and other HPC chips, with full-scale production slated for 2025 at the latest, the sources said.

Some 38% of semiconductor market share is contributed by computing products, and around 32% from communication products. Notebooks, desktops and servers are major categories of computing products, with notebooks being the biggest of them all. Getting a good grip on notebook industry trends can give a good grasp of the bigger picture about the business climate of the computing sectors.

Texas Instrutments has given a less optimistic outlook for the third quarter of 2021, but industry sources have claimed that TI still sees prolonged lead times. TSMC has disclosed it is in early talks with clients about the feasibility of constructing a fab in Germany, and industry observers say such a fab could be a boost to Europe's car supply chain. DIGITIMES Asia president Colley Hwang has just published the first of his latest series of analysis of the global IT supply chain.

Compal Electronics and its networking device-making subsidiary Arcadyan Technology are both expanding their factory sites in Vietnam where COVID-19 infections are resurging, and they have claimed no impact thus far from the local pandemic.

After the peak of component crunch in the second quarter along with insufficient inventory in the third quarter, stress of stagnant deliverables on the highway seems to have been relieved. A consensus of the supply chain is to let the manufacturers breathe. The fourth quarter is in line with the traditional off-season, and the days should be easier. From foundries to IC design houses, Taiwanese manufacturers are in the limelight now. DIGITIMES Asia has noted in its reports that the foundry sector is now a seller's market with strong demand to last in end of 2022. Such messages are based on dynamic changes in demand-supply status of IT industry from the most upstream of the supply chain. Component shortages and component cannibalization require long-term rolling tracking. DIGITIMES Asia has been making dynamic adjustments to its views in line with rolling forecasts.

TSMC is evaluating the feasibility of building more fabs overseas fabs, including Germany, according to the foundry house's chairman. Strong demand and tight capacity are sending foundry quotes rising. UMC is mulling raising service fees further by 10-15% in first-quarter 2022 for 40nm process. MIH CEO Jack Cheng believes the Foxconn-led open platofrm for EV development is revolutionzing the car industry.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, at an online investors conference, has pointed out that he expects PC total available market (TAM) to grow all the way to 2022, despite the pandemic being gradually contained, corresponding to the views of several executives at Taiwanese ODMs, according to some market observers.

Vietnam's Bac Giang province, where many Apple manufacturers are located, plans to build 23 new industrial parks, expand the existing six parks, according to a local media report

The industrial production index in Taiwan increased 18.37% in June 2021, compared with the same month in 2020. The annual production index by some major industrial divisions is as follows: manufacturing increased 20.20%, mining & quarrying decreased 5.11%, electricity & gas supply decreased 0.29%; water supply decreased 4.39%, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Vietnam-based VinFast's branch offices in the US, Canada, France, Germany, and Netherland have begun operation and will start selling electric vehicles (EVs) in these countries, according to a report by Vietnam Investment Review.

Demand from the car sector has been strong, and foundry houses are stepping up efforts to rolling out more automotive chips. Apple's manufacturing partners are seeing COVID-induced disruptions to their production in Vietnam, and will have to move poduction of new-gen AirPods to China. And in China, construction of 5G base stations is slowing down this year.

Luxshare Precision Industry and Goertek, reportedly assemblers for the new-generation AirPods, have seen their factory sites in Vietnam affected by a resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak locally and will have to fulfill orders for Apple's upcoming TWS earbuds at their plants in China, according to industry sources.

Chip shortage gas been serious, but Apple and carmakers are both asking for more ICs, the former looking to secure supply for its upcoming devices and the latter to prevent dirsuptions to their productions. Chinese IC designers are seeking more advanced manufacturing support from TSMC for their AI and HPC chips. Taiwan-based server makers are keen on expanding production capacity to meet strong demand.

Taiwan-based server ODMs including Inventec, Quanta Computer, and Wiwynn are all gearing up to carry out their capacity expansion projects in Taiwan and overseas, according to company sources.

Acer and Asustek Computer are both expected to see their notebook sales register another increase of about 10% in 2022, while some ODMs have also expressed optimism about the overall notebook sales judging from the one-year supply agreements brand companies have already struck with them, according to industry sources.

Taiwanese industrial IT product makers, including Foxlink, Delta Electronics, AcBel Polytech, FSP, and Winmate, have all warned that component shortages have become an issue that all supply chain companies need to deal with, as extensions in component deliveries have become a norm.