The top-3 foundries in Taiwan - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation (VIS), together generated a total of US$14.58 billion in revenues in fourth-quarter 2020.
China government has always attached great importance to advances of the semiconductor sector, but semiconductors' vital role to industrial and national development is clear amid the country's trade war with the US. This Digitimes Research Special Report reviews the results of China's efforts to build its semiconductor ecosystem during the 13th 5-year Plan (2015-2020), and looks at the plans set out in its 14th 5-year Plan (2021-2025) to raise China's IC self-sufficiency.
Smartphone application processor shipments to China-based vendors amounted to 192.6 million units in third-quarter 2020, up 13.4% quarter-over-quarter and down 9.5% year-over-year.
Second-quarter 2020 smartphone AP shipments to China-based vendors amounted to 169.9 million units, down 20.6% year-over-year but up 25.8% quarter-over-quarter.
Smartphone application processor (AP) shipments to China only amounted to 135 million units in first-quarter 2020, plunging more than 30% on quarter and 12.2% on year.
The coronavirus outbreak has resulted in labor shortages and shipment disruptions in China's supply chain, but Digitimes Research believes if the epidemic gets under control, China-based top-4 smartphone brands' shipments are expected to drop 19.5% on year in the first quarter of 2020, while smartphone AP shipments to China will fall 11.4% on year during the period.
According to Digitimes Research's observation, with global market demand on a moderate increase in second-quarter 2019, Taiwan-based semiconductor foundries showed recovery. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation (VIS) together generated total revenues of US$9.13 billion in the second quarter, up 8.9% on quarter but down 2.5% on year.
Second-quarter 2019 smartphone application processor (AP) shipments to China showed 39.1% sequential growth, higher than previously expected, buoyed by early inventory ramp-up in anticipation of rising US-China trade tensions.
Smartphone AP shipments to China slid 29.3% sequentially in first-quarter 2019 under the influence of system integrators' inventory adjustment and fewer working days.
Amid bleak outlook for downstream vendors, uncertainties surrounding the US-China trade tension, factory relocation and exchange rate volatility, global smartphone application processor (AP) shipments may experience further decline in 2019, down two years in row, according to Digitimes Research estimates. Qualcomm and Hisilicon will still be able to show moderate growth in their market shares.
