Apple Inc. surprised investors with a decent beat on quarterly revenue from China, countering months of data that showed a quickening decline in iPhone sales.
Qualcomm's first-quarter fiscal report has signaled an ongoing recovery in smartphone demand, with robust demand in the high-end Chinese smartphone market.
Meta regained market focus with the widespread popularity of its open Llama. Nevertheless, as its AI investments are still in the early stages, it will take years to see returns.
Bolstered by strong sales of its first AI smartphone, the Galaxy S24 series, which debuted earlier this year, Samsung Electronics Mobile eXperience (MX) division achieved remarkable results in the first quarter of 2024 despite the contraction of the smartphone market.
Touch controller chip and fingerprint sensor specialist Elan Microelectronics believes that demand for AI PCs will rise and ferment as early as the fourth quarter of 2024.
Taiwan's GDP increased by 6.51% from the previous year in the first quarter of 2024, outpacing South Korea's 3.4% and Singapore's 2.7%, thanks to exports of AI chips and AI servers.
Apple is expected to rebound from a lackluster first half of 2024, with shipments of both iPhones and Mac computers picking up in the latter part of the year, say supply chain sources. As mere hardware refreshes can no longer stimulate consumer purchases, market attention has focused almost exclusively on AI and foldable screens; in Apple's case, however, implementing AI into their products may be the quicker option.
Chunghwa Precision Test Tech (CHPT), an IC test interface solutions provider, is optimistic about demand spurred by AI servers and smartphones and projects a surge in probe card orders in the second half of 2024.
The announcement for Apple's iPad Pro 2024 has been repeatedly delayed, reportedly due to issues related to OLED panels. Despite this, it was recently revealed that the two major South Korean manufacturers, LG Display (LGD) and Samsung Display (SDC), are responsible for supplying OLED panels for the new iPad and will incorporate many new panel technologies not previously used in iPhones.
Thanks to the server supply chain shift out of China due to the US-China trade conflicts, Taiwan's computer production value has grown significantly over the past 5 years. Although China remains the biggest production site of Notebook PCs (NB), manufacturers of high-end servers have returned to Taiwan.
Amid sluggish iPhone sales, Samsung Electronics and Chinese smartphone brands have begun to take advantage of this gap and expand their inventory of smartphones and OLEDs to seize market shares. This drove the utilization rates of OLED production lines for mid-to-low-end smartphones at Samsung Display (SDC), BOE, TCL CSOT, and other manufacturers.
Samsung Electronics, in collaboration with Intel, recently launched a new generation of desktop PCs called the "All-in-One Pro" in South Korea. By using AI, it aims to compete with Apple's iMac and expand its AI end-user ecosystem.
Notebook production in Vietnam has increased dramatically, making the country the second largest source of imports to the US behind China, according to government sources.
Huawei Technologies Co.'s latest smartphones carry a version of the advanced made-in-China processor it revealed last year, independent analysis revealed, underscoring the Chinese company's ability to sustain production of the controversial chip.
Intel's recent financial report revealed a modest increase in revenue, but a loss for the first quarter of 2024, while the existing quarter's guidance is also disappointing. However, Intel has high hopes for Gaudi 3, expecting it to generate US$500 million in revenue in 2024.
The current adoption rate of QLC NAND SSD in PCs is approximately 20-25%, and this rate is expected to expand dramatically in 2024, according to Micron Technology. The primary use cases for AI in PCs are to facilitate the significant expansion of Solid-State Drive (SSD) storage capacity and to fulfill the growing demand for terabyte-level storage.
Qualcomm has just announced the Snapdragon X Plus, its latest PC processor. According to available specs, the new processor is identical to the earlier Snapdragon X Elite, but with two fewer cores.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's government notified Apple Inc. of concerns that the company's supply chain may be tainted by conflict minerals sourced from the central African nation.
