Taiwan-based major MCU makers including Holtek Semiconductor expect their shipments for the fourth quarter of 2018 to be affected by the uncertainty in terminal market demand amid the ongoing US-China tariff war, as Chinese and US clients are turning conservative about demand during the upcoming November 11 Singles' Day and Christmas shopping.

Holtek spokesperson Patty Li said the impact of the US-China trade conflicts can be judged from sales performance at the upcoming shopping festivals in the two countries.

She continued that even international IDMs STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments (TI) have shared the view that their shares of the China market will be impacted by the trade spats. This, however, will provide opportunities for Taiwan MCU makers, as some China customers are turning to Taiwan makers that can supply quality MCUs and offer quotes in renminbi.

Holtek and other peer makers such as Nuvoton Technology, Generalplus Technology, Sonix Technology and Nyquest Technology will see their shipments to the China market in the first half of 2019 more or less undermined by some undesirable factors, including the US planned tariff rise to 25% on imports from China, increased import cost of Chinese customers amid depreciation of China's currency, and mounting debt pressure on China's enterprises, according to industry sources.

Among them, Holtek is expected to be a little more immune to US-China trade conflicts thanks to its multiple deployments in the MCU sector, the sources said.

The firm has seen its 32-bit MCU devices gaining ground in the China market, as it already kicked off shipments of MCUs for wireless charging Bluetooth headphones to smartphone vendors such as Huawei and Xiaomi in the third-quarter 2018 and is ramping up such shipments in the fourth quarter.

At the moment, 8-bit MCUs still dominate revenue contribution to Holtek, but the revenue ratio for 32-bit ones is rising to 6% or so for the moment. Holtek's 32-bit MCU shipments shot up 116% on year to 11.72 million units in the first three quarters of 2018 and are expected to challenge 15 million units for the whole 2018.

By: DocMemory
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