China's vendors are likely to adopt a pricing strategy selling their 5G smartphones at about CNY500 (US$74) more than their current price ranges to increase profitability in 2019, according to sources from Taiwan's handset supply chain.

Smartphone lens module maker Largan Precision has disclosed it has signed a deal to acquire from machine tool maker Leadwell CNC Machines a plant with total floor area of 13,221 square meters in Taichung, central Taiwan, at NT$1.824 billion (US$59.2 million).

China-based camera module maker Q Technology has issued an earnings warning, saying its pre-tax profits for 2018 will tumble by 95% as compared to a year earlier.

Taiwan's copper-clad laminate maker Elite Material (EMC) is expected to see 2019 revenue growth driven by robust demand from handset and automotive electronics sectors for its high-density interconnect (HDI) board materials, the firm's mainstay product.

With prices for handset-use fingerprint sensors continuing their downward trend due to intensifying competition among China- and Taiwan-based suppliers, Taiwan-based fingerprint sensor specialists have moved to diversify their target markets to include notebooks, bank debit cards and other non-handset...

Flexible PCB firm Uniflex Technology has reportedly entered the supply chain for Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S10 series with shipments already kicking off, according to industry sources.

Despite sales growth stagnancy for smartphones, handset PCB suppliers are moving to develop high-end board materials as they believe handsets still have great room for sales growth along with increasing incorporation of new tech functions, according to supply chain sources.

Taiwan chipmaker MediaTek is gearing up to expand its businesses in AI, automotive electronics and ASIC sectors, internally dubbed as the "3A" plan, seeking to reverse in 2019 its two consecutive years of revenue declines, according to industry sources.

Himax Technologies has secured several design wins for smartphones and other applications, including one major TDDI (touch and display driver integration) design win from a South Korea-based smartphone vendor, according to the fabless chipmaker.

As millimeter wave (mmWave) is likely to serve as the first frontier technology to mobilize Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) applications in the 5G commercial market from 2019-2020, Qualcomm is actively deploying in the mmWave sector in order to maintain its technology advantage, according to Digitimes...

With the strong popularity of the Apple AirPods, and chip developers including Qualcomm and Realtek offering solutions for true wireless earbuds, more earphone brands are expected to begin mass shipments of their new devices in the second half of 2019, pushing up demand for batteries for these products,...

In a rare move, Taiwan's top economic planner has said lackluster sales of new iPhones can be blamed partly on the devices' lack of innovations, which may directly impact revenue performance of supply chain partners in the country in 2019.

MediaTek saw its consolidated revenues grow 14.6% sequentially in December, but revenues for all of 2018 slipped 0.1% on year to NT$238.06 billion (US$7.73 billion).

Smartphone-use lens module maker Largan Precision, despite slow growth in global demand for smartphones and various challenges arising from uncertainties, is expanding production capacity as originally planned, according to company CEO Lin En-ping.

As part of their efforts to embrace the 5G era, many Taiwan network equipment makers including Sercomm, Zyxel Communications and Wistron NeWeb (WNC) are showcasing the latest 5G and IoT communications equipment and solutions at CES 2019

Smartphone-use lens module maker Largan Precision has reported consolidated revenues of NT$3.227 billion (US$105 million) for December, the lowest since April 2018 with decreases of 19.49% sequentially and 33.86% on year.

Taiwan-based Taiflex Scientific, which supplies flexible copper-clad laminates (FCCL) and PV module backsheets, has announced lackluster sales for December due to decreased demand for its products from the smartphone and other mobile device sectors.

Headset supplier Merry Electronics has reported consolidated revenues of NT$3.79 billion (NT$122.73 million) for December, down 20.11% on month but up 11.77% on year.

Micron Technology has announced its automotive-grade LPDDR4X memory devices are being adopted for Qualcomm's third-generation Snapdragon automotive cockpit compute systems. The companies are also working to validate and integrate Micron's memory solutions into Qualcomm's Snapdragon automotive cockpit...

MediaTek is showcasing at CES 2019 its latest technology for its automotive chip brand Autus, which it says brings innovative solutions to the automotive industry in four major areas including in-vehicle communication systems, in-vehicle infotainment systems, vision advanced driver assistance systems...

The supply chain of iPhone devices is bracing for major turbulence after Apple lowered its guidance for its fiscal first-quarter 2019 ended December 29, 2018 due to weak sales of its smartphones in China, according to industry sources.

Discrete NPU (neural processing unit) is increasingly incorporated by chipmakers including Huawei HiSilicon, Qualcomm and MediaTek into their mobile chip solutions to execute AI computing at new-generation smartphones, and may soon become a new mainstream mobile AP architecture beyond CPU, GPU and...

Flexible PCB and chassis maker Ichia Technologies has reported revenues of NT$554 million (US$18 million) for December 2018, down 7% on month and 7.4% on year. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2018 reached NT$1.896 billion, down 3% on quarter.

Taiwan-based IC designer MediaTek has repeatedly outperformed most peers in the development of mobile chip solutions, but its long conservative practice of offering higher-end solutions for lower-end application segments to win greater customer patronages has prevented the company from gaining ground...

Smaller vendors of TDDI, optical fingerprint identification and Type-C PD chips are reportedly lowering quotes to vie for orders in 2019, but the average unit prices of smartphone chips remain relatively stable as handset vendors are keen to upgrade AI functions at their devices, according to industry...