The Tech Week that was.. Aug 3 ~7

Welcome to my weekly newsletter of all the key semiconductor and technology news from around the world.

This week Samsung released it new range of phones, with a new flagship Note20 phone and also completely reengineered Fold2 phone, together with new tablets, watch and earbuds as Samsung hopes to regain top spot for smartphone sales and revive sales overall.

Google also released it's latest budget phone last week, the Pixel 4a to compete with the iPhoneSE. The 4a is a cost down version of thePixel 4 phone released last year, but is only 4G, the 5G version is expected to be released later in the year.

In Q2 the global smartphone market declined 14% according to market analysts Canalys with 285million units shipped, the 2nd consecutive quarter of declines. Huawei overtook Samsung for top spot globally with 55.8million units shipped, mainly due to strong sales in China, which is the first country to recover from COVID19. In 3rd spot Apple was the only manufacturer in the top 10 that increased sales compared to a year ago with 45.1million units shipped, up 25% yoy, with the low cost iPhone SE released in Q2 accounting for 28% of the units shipped. Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi and Oppo took 4th and 5th spots respectively.

However in Europe the picture is slightly different where the US ban on Huawei preventing it from offering Google software seems to being having a bigger impact. In Europe, according to Canalys, in Q2 Samsung still holds number #1 slot with 30% market share, with Apple taking 2nd spot and Xiaomi overtook Huawei for 3rd spot, with Xiaomi growing 65% yoy. Xiaomi better not stick it’s head up too far otherwise it may suffer the same fate as Huawei.

IC Insights released its latest update of the McClean report, forecasting that COVID19 will limit growth compared to 2019 of many IC product categories. NAND flash, DRAM, computer CPU, and embedded MPUs categories are all expected to show growth in 2020. NAND flash is expected to show 27% growth and this will help the overall IC market to grow 3% in 2020, but out of 33 product categories on 25 will are forecast to decline in 2020.

 According to SIA, June global semiconductor sales increased 5% year on year to US$34.5billion. For Q2 as a whole, global semiconductor sales were US$104billion, also up 5% yoy but down 15 compared to Q1. The biggest increase in sales in Q2 was in the Americas region.

China has introduced new tax incentives for domestic semiconductor players in its latest move to boost it’s domestic chip industry and to become more self sufficient. Under the new rules qualifying companies will be exempt from corporate income tax for up to 10years if they use 28nm or below technologies, and 5years if they use 65nm ~ 28nm technologies.

Speculation remains rife as to who will buy Arm as Softbank looks to sell the company it bought for US$32billion 4 years ago. Latest companies rumoured to be interested as TSMC and Foxconn, whilst Apple, Qualcomm and Nvidia are also still said to be interested. As Arm is used in more than 90% of the world’s mobile chips, any purchase will undergo strict regulatory review before it would be approved.

 Solar company Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS) has announced it has made a US$120million equity investment in compound wafer foundry AWSC (Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Co). With the alliance the 2 companies will collaborate to develop GaN products for 5G and high power products.

As mini LED’s are increasingly being adopted for future backlight display technology, Apple and Samsung are reported to be securing their mini LED chip supply from manufacturers in Taiwan, Korea and China. Samsung is reported to be talking to Episar, Lextar, Sanan and HC Semitek to support it’s demand for 30 billion Mini LED chips. LG is reported to be relying on Seoul Semiconductor, whilst Apple is reported to be mainly relying on Epistar.

Finally, according to a recent survey by EE Times survey of 1,500 engineers worldwide, from a wide range of engineering disciplines, reported that engineers are getting more stressed and pressured but still overall happy with their jobs. Engineers are reporting that cost and time to market pressures are increasing with engineers expected to accomplish more with less, especially in china and the rest of Asia. Of new technologies engineers have adopted, sensors came out top with signal processing second. Autonomous cars and 5G technology were near the bottom of the list.

That’s all for this week, if you liked what you read, do subscribe to my newsletter so that you never miss another edition. Stay safe and healthy, bye.