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The climbing prices of DRAM over the past six quarters have added the cost pressures of Chinese smartphone brands. As the result, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has expressed concerns to Samsung at the end of 2017. And the intervention is expected to moderate the price increases of mobile DRAM in 1Q18, according DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce. It is said that Samsung Electronics, backed by Korean government, is signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NDRC. The MOU is believed to include details of further cooperation in semiconductor industry, such as expanding the investment in China and technical collaboration.
Despite rollout of full-screen models by major smartphone brands in 4Q17 to stimulate market demand, consumers have been less willing to make purchases amid the saturating market, mobile phone sales have been lower than expected, according DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce. Coupled with the climbing prices of mobile DRAM over the past year and a profit squeeze, major brands have adjusted their production plans and deferred restocking of materials since mid 4Q17. Some key components including mobile DRAM have excess inventory. In 1Q18, the traditional off-season, smartphone vendors are expected to decrease the demand, resulting in a mere 3% rise of the contract prices.
According to TrendForce’s latest report, the Breakdown Analysis of China’s Semiconductor Industry, many fabs are being built in China with high capital expenditures, attracting attention from the industry. In particular, new fab construction projects like Silan Microelectronics and CanSemi etc. will intensify the competition and expand the production capacity of the industry. TrendForce estimates that China’s production capacity of 300mm wafer will reach nearly 700,000 pieces per month by the end of 2018, a 42.2% increase from the end of 2017; the revenue from China’s entire wafer fabrication industry is expected to reach RMB 176.7 billion in 2018, an annual growth of 27.12%.
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.
Fingerprint sensors will still be the first choice for most Andriod phones in 2018, since other biometric authentication methods available for Andriod phone makers cannot completely replace fingerprint identification yet, says TrendForce. Meanwhile, in-display fingerprint sensors are expected to make breakthrough this year, and vendors like Samsung, LG, OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei are likely to embed this technology, bringing the global fingerprint sensor penetration rate in smartphones to 60%.