Demand has been for notebooks supporting remote work, distant learning and other staty-at-home activities necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic. Digitimes Research estimates that global notebook shipments will spike by more than 40% in second-quarter 2020. The handset market may have been hit hard by the virus, but it has not dampened MediaTek's optimisim for 5G phones. The chip vendor has reiterated its forecast that global 5G smartphone shipments will still 170-200 million units in 2020. But it remains to be seen when Apple will launch its 5G iPhone, development of which reportedly has been hindered by virus-imposed bans on its engineers from traveling to China to conduct engineering verification tests for the new device. Tech companies are said to be mulling changes to their deployments by turning Taiwan into their test production hubs.
Global notebook shipments to climb over 40% in 2Q20, estimates Digitimes Research: Global notebook shipments are forecast to surge more than 40% sequentially in the second quarter of 2020, thanks to demand arising from remote work, online learning, and other stay-at-home activities amid the coronavirus pandemic as well as deferred orders from the first quarter, according to Digitimes Research's latest notebook shipment figures.
MediaTek remains upbeat about 5G phone shipments in 2020: MediaTek is still upbeat about 5G in 2020 and its forecast for global 5G smartphone shipments to reach 170-200 million units in the year remains unchanged, according to company CEO Rick Tsai.
US tech giants seeking to expand test production in Taiwan: US tech giants including Apple, Facebook and Google reportedly are mulling expanding test production of new products in Taiwan, whose advantages in the IT manufacturing sector have been highlighted by US-China trade war and the coronavirus outbreak, according to industry sources.