Market research firm TrendForce reports that the global notebook shipments for 2017 registered 164.7 million units, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, higher than previous expectation of 0.7%.
According to the latest report of WitsView, a division of TrendForce, global shipments of branded LCD TV sets for 2017 totaled 211 million units, a decrease of 4.1% compared with prior year. This is a new low since 2014, indicating a bottleneck in the development of TV industry. In 2018, TV brands will focus on large-size, high-resolution products, and also develop high-end products like QLED and OLED TVs, hoping to push sales and regain profits by specifications upgrade.
According to the latest report by WitsView, a division of TrendForce, the shipments of gaming monitor (with a frame rate above 100Hz) recorded about 2.5 million units in 2017, an annual growth of 80%. TrendForce forecasts that the shipments will increase by another 1 million units this year, totaling around 3.5 to 3.7 million units in 2018.
WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports that global LCD TV panel shipments increased quarter by quarter in 2017. 1H17 showed less momentum for holiday sales due to the high prices, but shipments rebounded in 2H17 as the prices declined and TV makers prepared for the year-end sales. Moreover, the new production capacities of BOE’s Gen 8.5 fab in Fuqing and HKC’s Gen 8.6 fab in Chongqing have been focusing on middle-size TV panels (43" and 32" respectively), bringing the annual shipments beyond expectation to 263.83 million pieces, an increase of 1.3% compared with 2016.
The expanding markets for Internet of Things, automotive electronics, and smart home devices have driven the demand for power management integrated circuit (PMIC) and microcontrollers (MCU), etc., resulting in the 200mm foundries’ less input in LCD driver ICs. WitsView, a division of TrendForce, points out that the foundries have raised their quotes for driver ICs. Consequently, fabless IC companies may also raise their quotes to panel makers by 5~10% due to the cost pressure.