Weekly News
Catalog
①China's Huawei poised to overcome US ban with the return of 5G phones, research firms say.
②Omdia: OLED display panel shipments to grow more than ten times in two years.
③Amazon's iRobot Roomba acquisition under formal EU investigation.
④Bosch ups investment in hydrogen and begins fuel-cell power module production.
⑤Denso explores the sale of select internal combustion engine-related operations to Niterra.?
①China's Huawei poised to overcome US ban with the return of 5G phones, research firms say.
Huawei should be able to procure 5G chips domestically using its advances in semiconductor design tools along with chipmaking from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co (SMIC), three third-party technology research firms covering China's smartphone sector told Reuters.?
One of the research firms said it expected Huawei to use SMIC's N+1 manufacturing process. However, with a forecast yield rate of usable chips below 50%, 5G shipments would be limited to around 2 million to 4 million units. A second firm estimated shipments could reach 10 million units without providing further details.
However,?Huawei declined to comment. SMIC did not respond to a request for comment.
Comment
Although Huawei's market share in China budged up 10% in the first quarter of this year thanks to the previous generation of 4G phones, according to consultancy Canalys. Huawei's ranking in global mobile phone sales hit rock bottom last year.
②Omdia: OLED display panel shipments to grow more than ten times in two years.
Market research company Omdia recently released a report that the OLED display panel market from last year to next year will grow more than ten times; the strong demand for gaming displays is the main reason for its rapid development.
The report predicts that global OLED display panel shipments will grow from 160,000 units in 2022 to 800,000 units this year and reach 1.74 million units in 2024, a more than 10-fold surge in two years. Omdia also predicts that global OLED display panel shipments will reach 2.3 million units in 2025 and 277,000 in 2026.
Comment
According to the report, the rapid growth of OLED display panels is due to the rising demand for gaming displays. OLED panels offer sharper, fuller image quality and faster response times than traditional LCD panels.
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③Amazon's iRobot Roomba acquisition under formal EU investigation.
European Union regulators have opened an official investigation into Amazon's proposed $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, the company behind the popular Roomba lineup of robot vacuum cleaners.?
A?survey by analysis company Statista?presents that?iRobot had been far ahead of?its?competitors, with a global market share of 46% in 2020, and?the second-ranked Cobos robot?only shared 17%. However, iRobot's current business could be more optimistic,?with a?revenue?of?$1.183 billion?last year, down 24.4% from 2021.?By contrast,?Cobos robot?earned?$2.145 billion (15.3 billion?RMB), a?rise?of 17% over the previous year.
Comment
For Amazon's acquisition of iRobot, the European Commission takes a favorable view after its preliminary investigation since it believes that the deal is conducive to the robotic vacuum industry market competition. And the final verdict will be posted on November 15 this year.
④Bosch ups investment in hydrogen and begins fuel-cell power module production.
Bosch said production of its fuel cell power module - a fuel cell system generating electricity in vehicles from hydrogen, primarily used in commercial long-distance applications - has begun in its Stuttgart-Feuerbach plant in Germany and Chongqing, China.?Nikola Corporation will be the pilot customer of the modules made in Stuttgart-Feuerbach, with the Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric truck to enter the North American market in the third quarter of 2023.
Bosch is working around the full hydrogen value chain and developing hydrogen technologies on both the supply and application sides. By 2030, Bosch plans to generate around 5 billion euros in sales with hydrogen technology. In addition to the Feuerbach plant in Germany, the hydrogen power module is also being put into mass production in Chongqing, China, with the components supplied by the Wuxi plant.
Comment
German auto supplier Bosch will invest almost 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in hydrogen fuel cell technology from 2021 to 2026. The statement added that the planned investment was one billion euros more than earmarked in its previous investment plan for 2021-2024. Bosch is working on applications in all ranges of industries.
⑤Denso explores the sale of select internal combustion engine-related operations to Niterra.
Toyota affiliate Denso Corp. said it had signed a memorandum of understanding to negotiate a transfer of certain internal combustion engine-related businesses to fellow Japanese auto supplier Niterra Co.
Denso has begun negotiations to transfer business operations for its spark plug and exhaust gas sensor products to Niterra. However, the transfer will occur only after official approval from competition law authorities in all countries and regions and after fulfilling all other requirements.
Niterra expects that the market demand for parts of internal combustion engines will continue to promote. The industry needs corresponding responses in the short, medium and long term. Therefore, Niterra has reached a basic agreement to start discussing the acquisitions, considering how to maintain the supply of internal combustion engine parts.
Comment
Denso ranks No. 2 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers, with estimated worldwide sales to automakers of $47.9 billion in 2022. Niterra ranked 80th among the Top 100 Global Auto Parts Suppliers; the sales to global automakers were about $2.7 billion in 2022.