Prices for TDDI (touch and display driver integration) solutions and optical fingerprint sensors will be dragged down by increasingly intense competition in both chip segments during 2019, according to industry sources.

Suppliers of TDDI chips and optical fingerprint sensors mainly China- and Taiwan-based players are set to experience a wave of price cuts in 2019 as competition among them intensifies, the sources indicated.

Novatek Microelectronics and FocalTech Systems are both being identified as the biggest winners amid price erosion for TDDI chips next year, the sources noted. Prices for TDDI chips, which have been stable in 2018, are expected to drop in 2019 due mainly to an increasing number of new entries into the market.

Novatek has reportedly secured 45nm process manufacturing capacity at United Microelectronics (UMC) to meet all its TDDI chip demand. Novatek's TDDI chip shipments surpassed the 10 million mark monthly in the first half of 2018, said the sources, adding that the total shipments for all of the year are estimated at over 100 million units. Novatek is also expected to enjoy an over 50% surge in its TDDI chip shipments next year.

FocalTech has obtained capacity support from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and started ramping up its TDDI chip shipments recently, the sources continued. FocalTech is set to see its TDDI chip shipments boom in 2019.

In the optical fingerprint sensor segment, Egis Technology (Egistec) and Goodix Technology are competing for orders for the first half of 2019 from major smartphone clients, the sources said. Goodix started fulfilling optical fingerprint sensor orders for smartphones in the second half of 2018. Egistec will soon follow suit with orders placed by Korea-based smartphone vendors, the sources continued.

Meanwhile, more players including Silead, Novatek and FocalTech are looking to tap the optical fingerprint sensor sector. Competition in the market is set to be fierce in 2019, the sources indicated, adding that speculation already circulated in the industry that prices for such sensors will likely fall over 20% next year.

By: DocMemory
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