WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports that the large-sized panels witnessed slashed demand in the first quarter with decreased panel shipment by area, but the oversupply was eased in 2Q18 as the demand recovered and the supply (glass output by area) dropped. In the third quarter, the enhanced stocking-up demand in a peak season has reversed the over-supply trend. However, WitsView reports higher risks of panel price decline in 4Q18, for the end demand may gradually slide in the upcoming quarter while panel makers keep on targeting full utilization rates.
DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports that DRAM suppliers have been negotiating with their clients over the 4Q18 contracts towards the end of September. Looking ahead to the next quarter, DRAMeXchange expects that the quotations of DRAM products to decline by 5% QoQ, higher than the previous forecast of 1~3%. The weak quotations are mainly due to increasing bit supply yet fairly limited growth in demand, despite the coming of holiday sales season.
According to the latest report by DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, North American markets contribute to around 40% of the global server demand, but Trump’s threat of steep tariffs on Chinese goods, including server imports, may bring more risks to Taiwanese server ODMs, whose production are mainly based in China. Therefore, Taiwanese server makers are now considering moving their production facilities back to Taiwan. With the next wave of tariffs going into effect on September 24, tariffs of 10 percent will be imposed on Chinese products like servers, server modules, motherboards and network switches, so server makers are bound to relocate their facilities to minimize the impacts of the trade war on their businesses.
WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports that Foxconn is expected to take the first place in the global shipment ranking of LCD TV ODMs for 2018, for the brand benefitted from the prosperous business of Sharp, a subsidiary of Foxconn, as well as stable orders from Sony and VIZIO. TPV slid to the second place, with TCL and BOEVT following the third and fourth.
As Apple unveils its new iPhone models, TrendForce has provided the following comments for your reference.