Global research institute TrendForce asserts in its latest Global Automotive Market Decode for 1Q report that the global automotive market scale is predicted to reach 94.4 million in shipments 2019, a 0.8% decrease compared to 2018. Despite this drop in market scale, car manufacturers are hoping to spur market development by turning to the electric vehicle market. Electric vehicle shipments are predicted to arrive at 5.15 million in 2019, reaching a YoY growth of 28%. YoY growth of new energy vehicles alone ( excluding hybrid electric vehicles) is expected to hit 51%.
TrendForce states that the global 3D sensing market for smartphones has grown from 819 million USD in 2017 to 3.08 billion USD in 2018 as iPhones make a complete switch to structured light 3D sensing solutions. Yet due to smartphone suppliers mostly focusing on fingerprint on display (FOD), the global smartphone 3D sensing market is expected to grow by 26.3%, to a scale of 3.89 billion USD. Apple, anticipated to take up TOF technology in 2020, may boost market development and bring YoY growth up to 53.1%.
TrendForce reports that the global smartphone production volume for 4Q18 totaled 383 million units, staying at a constant level from the previous quarter. In response to the slacking consumer demand, branded smartphone makers scaled back their production in 4Q18 and paid more attention to inventory management. Looking ahead to 1Q19, they have set modest production targets due to the lower-than-expected sales in the previous quarter. Even though prices of components have been falling, smartphone makers will remain passive in their stock-up efforts since they are under inventory pressure. TrendForce forecasts that the global smartphone production volume for 1Q19 will come to 307 million units, showing a YoY drop of 10%.
According to the latest report by TrendForce - Breakdown Analysis of China’s Semiconductor Industry, the outlook for China’s semiconductor industry has been tampered since the second half of 2018 due to pessimistic economy worldwide and uncertainties brought by the China-U.S. trade war, although the industry managed to reach a total revenue of over 600 billion RMB in 2018. Looking ahead to 2019, the revenue of China's semiconductor industry is expected to reach RMB 729.8 billion, but the annual growth rate would slow down to 16.20%, the lowest in the past five years.
Mainstream high- and mid-power LED package products in the Chinese market witnessed price declines in December, according to the latest report from LEDinside, a division of TrendForce.