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Sharp is acquiring Toshiba’s personal computer business, bringing new dynamics to the notebook market. Sharp has shuttered its own PC business previously, but this deal may be associated with the strategic development of Foxconn Technology Group, says WitsView, a division of TrendForce. The expansion to notebook markets is in line with Foxconn Group’s internet and industrial-focused vision, and will allow Foxconn Group to cut into the ecosystem of notebook OEM.
DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports that the smartphone market has remained in the low season since 4Q17. Smartphone vendors did not start to stock up on components until the end of February 2018, when the end demand began to bounce back. Together with the remarkable performance of China's top smartphone brands, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo, the global production volume of smartphone reached 340 million units in 1Q18, an increase of 5.3% over one year ago.
DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports that the oversupply in the NAND Flash market has resulted in price decline of Client SSD, which in turn drives the demand. DRAMeXchange expects that the SSD adoption rate in the notebook market will exceed 50% this year. In particular, PCIe SSDs will gradually replace SATA III SSDs, the current mainstream product, at a faster pace. The penetration rate of PCIe in the client-SSD market will also have a chance to reach over 50% this year.
The latest analysis by DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, finds that the seasonal headwinds in 1Q18 has resulted in downward corrections of prices. On the whole, the revenue of branded NAND Flash suppliers dropped by 3% QoQ in 1Q18. Contract prices of eMMC/UFS and SSD products will keep falling in 2Q18 since the market is in slight oversupply. However, NAND Flash suppliers have also slashed prices significantly on products belonging to the standard and high-density categories (e.g. 256GB SSDs, 128/256GB UFS) to help stimulate bit demand growth. DRAMeXchange therefore expects stable revenue performances from NAND Flash suppliers for 2Q18.
It is said that China’s Anti-Monopoly Bureau of Ministry of Commerce held a meeting with representatives from Micron Technology on 24 May 2018, to express concerns about the continuing price increase for PC DRAM products over the past quarters. The rising prices have made Chinese PC-OEMs struggling under component cost pressure. In addition, Micron had previously interfered with the supplying of upstream equipment to JHICC in contravention to the spirit of fair competition, says DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have gained a total market share of 96% in 1Q18, reflecting the current oligopoly in DRAM market compared with the markets of other semiconductor components. Therefore, DRAMeXchange anticipates that such anti-trust investigations may happen again, which may restrain the price increase.
