Taiwan-based IC design houses have seen chip orders for Android smartphones pick up recently as China brand vendors including Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are rushing to release new-generation smartphone models to meet demand during the traditional fourth-quarter peak season, according to industry sources.

The sources said that most China smartphone vendors lowered their annual shipment projections in the first half of 2018 amid the slack sales sentiment, cut orders with IC designers and reduced inventories ahead of the release of Apple's new iPhones in September.

The new-generation iPhones boast few new features and still carry high unit prices, easing some pressure on Android phone vendors, and prompting China smartphone vendors to launch new models with AI functions and high performance/price ratios seeking to cash in on shopping sprees during China's National Day holidays starting October 1 and the Singles' Day on November 11.

As a result, Taiwan IC designers have seen their shipments to the China vendors rise significantly. Among them, MediaTek's AI-enabled Helio P60 chipset has seen increasing penetration in smartphone models sold in China. Shipments of the firm's new-generation mobile phone chips to China are expected to ramp up further to drive its monthly revenues to new highs in the fourth quarter, the sources said.

Novatek Microelectronics and FocalTech Systems are also expected to see their TDDI chip shipments pick up significantly in the fourth quarter of the year, bolstered by the rollout of all-screen smartphone models and the increasing wafer foundry capacity support.

Meanwhile, Himax Technologies has recently landed orders for 3D sensing chips and modules from Android smartphone vendors in China, and is expected to score notable increases in shipments and revenues starting in the fourth quarter of 2018.

By: DocMemory
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