WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports that the global shipments of branded TV sets for the third quarter of 2017 totaled 54.99 million units, showing an increase of 16% from the second quarter and a year-on-year decline of 4.0%. The third quarter is traditionally a busy period for TV shipments. Furthermore, the recent drop in panel prices is gradually taking away the cost pressure on TV brands, bolstering their confidence in expanding their shipments. WitsView expects the TV market to remain positive through the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the strong results in the second half of this year are unlikely going to offset three consecutive quarters of year-on-year declines. WitsView therefore has lowered its estimate of this year’s annual global shipments to 210 million units, down 4.2% from the previous year.
During the recent two years, limited increase in production capacity and challenges related to technology migration have slowed down the growth of DRAM supply, according to DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Contract prices of DRAM products began to climb in the second half of 2016, particularly driven by the strong demand in the year-end busy season. The DRAM market since then has continued to see surging prices. However, there are reports that Samsung is considering expanding its production capacity to increase competition and raise the barrier for market entry. Thus, there is a possibility that the tight supply for DRAM may end sooner than originally anticipated.
Themed as “development trends and opportunities of components industry” and “outlook on industrial innovation and application trends,” the IT Industry Forecast for 2018 was held by TrendForce, a global provider of market intelligence on technology industries, at the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai on October 26, 2017. The event was attended by 500 professionals ranging from talents of such high-tech industries as semiconductor, artificial intelligence (AI) and network communications to representatives of financial institutions and mainstream media. The symposium was kicked off by an opening speech delivered by Dr. C. L. Liu, president of TrendForce. Also, Dr. Yan Xiaolang, vice chairman of China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) and head of professionals group on the construction of demonstration microelectronics college in China, participated in the conference and shared his insights on the global technology industries.
The annual revenue from the global IC testing and packaging industry for 2017 is estimated to grow by 2.2% to reach US$51.73 billion, according to the latest research from TrendForce. Furthermore, providers of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) are projected to represent a share of 52.5% in the year’s total revenue.
Taiwan’s three solar companies Gintech, Neo Solar Power (NSP) and Solartech signed an MOU on October 16 announcing their intention to merge as one single corporate entity by the third quarter of 2018. According to EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce, the combined production capacity for photovoltaic (PV) cells of these three companies is projected to reach 5 gigawatts (GW). This estimate not only takes account of their combined 3.5GW capacity in Taiwan but also their combined 1.5GW capacity from their facilities located in Mainland China, Thailand and Vietnam. The company that resulted from this merger – United Renewable Energy Co., Ltd. (UREC) – will not only become the largest solar enterprise in Taiwan but also the world’s fifth-largest cell maker in terms of capacity and second-largest cell suppliers in terms of overseas shipping.