These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of July 8 – July 12.
Chinese brands dominate smartphone and TV markets via dual circulation strategy
The strength of Chinese domestic brands in the electronics sector in China is exceptional, collectively holding over 90% share in the Chinese TV market and over 83% share in the smartphone market. In contrast, international brands like Sony and Samsung have struggled to establish themselves in the Chinese market. The success of Chinese domestic brands is attributed to the country's "domestic-international dual circulation," strategy, which prioritizes domestic consumption (internal) while remaining open to international trade and investment (external).
Taiwan fab toolmakers grab major orders from TSMC and China
Taiwan-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers, many focused on backend equipment, have seen significant sales despite increased competition. This success is attributed to three main factors: TSMC's capacity expansions for advanced chip manufacturing and packaging, increased orders from Chinese customers due to US-China tensions, and major orders from foreign customers due to overseas expansions supporting TSMC's global fab projects.
Indian startup and semiconductor titans team up to bridge skill gap
Major semiconductor companies like Kaynes, ARM, AMD, and Marvell have highlighted the challenge of finding the right talent to fill more critical positions as they expand operations in India. Indian startup Perceptives Solutions has joined forces with these industry giants to bridge the skill gap in the semiconductor industry by setting up Centers of Excellence (COEs) at multiple major universities in India, bringing in experienced veterans from overseas to help offer an end-to-end perspective to students.
Huawei follows Nvidia's model to develop AI supply chain in China
Despite US export control sanctions, Huawei has not given up efforts to break out into new technological sectors, which include AI chips. Hongyi Zhou, chairman and CEO of Internet security company Qihoo 360, believes that Huawei will follow the way of Nvidia and structure its AI business model, including hardware and software, around the "cloud." However, whether Huawei can provide supplies to meet China's demand for computing power and become China's Nvidia remains to be seen.
AI server shipments to surge in 2H24 as GPU shortage eases
AI server shipments are expected to increase significantly in the second half of 2024 as the shortage of Nvidia H100 GPUs improves, according to sources at Taiwan-based ODMs. In the first half of the year, AI server supply chain players were still dealing with a shortage of materials, despite having the orders.
Thanks to improvements in the Nvidia GPU supply, the gap between supply and demand was down to single digits by the end of June, a significant improvement compared with 2023 when the gap was 30-40%.
MediaTek to surpass Qualcomm Snapdragon in 5G smartphone market
According to a report from Omdia, 5G smartphones equipped with MediaTek processors experienced significant growth in the first quarter of 2024. Shipments increased by 53%, going from 34.7 million units in 2023 to 53.0 million in 2024.
In contrast, devices powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon solutions saw shipments only slightly increasing from 47.2 million to 48.3 million units over the same period. MediaTek's growth is largely attributed to the increasing availability of affordable 5G smartphones priced under US$250.
SoftBank to acquire British AI chip designer Graphcore for US $500 million
Japan's SoftBank Group is acquiring British AI chip designer Graphcore for GBP400 million (approx. US$500 million). This price tag marks a significant discount from Graphcore's US$2.8 billion valuation in 2020.
Graphcore, founded in Bristol in 2016, designs large "intelligence processing units" (IPUs) for data centers to assist with AI software processing. The deal is subject to review by the UK, but SoftBank's massive stake in Arm likely smooths the way for the acquisition.
