Complimentary content

Automotive

Automotive sensors: the impact of new forces on vehicle sensor count and use (Part 1) - Richard Dixon, Ph.D.
As the world moves toward harmonizing vehicle emission standards and new testing regulations, what do these developments mean for the automotive sensors market?

Displays

2017 automotive display panel market review and supplier outlook - Stacy Wu
TFT LCD growth rate has slowed, and AMOLED finally debuts in the automotive market.

Display fab construction faces financing challenges in China - Chase Li
The Chinese government and state banks have started to deploy new regulations for land usage and loan applications.

Enterprise & IT

Monthly LED lamp retail price declines widen in April - Paul Bremner
Global LED lamp retail prices in April were 8.1% lower than in March 2018.

Collaborative meeting services grew 10% in 2017 - Matthias Machowinski, Prachi Nema
Worldwide revenue for collaborative meeting services in video and web conferencing reached $2.5 billion in 2017, up 10% from a year earlier.

Upcoming Report - Data center power distribution - Maggie Shillington
While colocation providers in the past cited space as the primary limiting factor in a data center, the primary limitation in recent years is power.

IoT platforms will enable new industrial services and partner relationships - Sam Lucero
IHS Markit illustrates how an automaker might make use of various types of IoT platforms to offer enhanced services to its customers, enable closer collaboration with its suppliers, and develop new partnerships with other industry stakeholders.

Ethernet access device market up 8 percent year over year in 2017 - Richard Webb
Worldwide Ethernet access device (EAD) revenue totaled $987 million in 2017, increasing 8% over 2016.

Quarter-on-quarter LED lamp retail price stabilizes at $14.44 - Paul Bremner
Global LED lamp retail prices in March were 4.2% lower than in February 2018, leaving global ASPs still 1.1% higher than October 2017 prices.

Healthcare Technology

More than 900,000 smart speakers to be used in healthcare facilities by 2021 - Bryan Montany
Over the next five years most smart speakers will be sold to residential end-users, and penetration rates of smart speakers in commercial buildings are not anticipated to match rates in homes.

Manufacturing Technology

New era for artificial intelligence in industrial machine vision - Shirly Zhu
Laser World of Photonics China 2018, the largest exhibition for the laser and photonics industries in Asia, set a record with nearly 56,000 visitors this year in Shanghai.

Media & Advertising

Cineworld flexes its new found global status with slew of equipment deals - Charlotte Jones
Cineworld has flexed its new-found global muscle with a slew of equipment deals in keeping with its strategy to increase investment in premium cinema formats.

Comcast makes its offer for Sky official - Tim Westcott, Erik Brannon
Comcast has made a formal offer for Sky, valuing the UK-based satellite operator at £22 billion ($30.7 billion).

Greek telco WIND makes long-anticipated move into online subscription video - Constantinos Papavassilopoulos
Greek telecom operator WIND Hellas is to launch a new online subscription video service, WIND Vision. The operator is the first telco in Greece to launch such a service

Online subscription video market in MENA grew six times faster than pay TV in 2017, as political shockwaves reversed pay-TV growth - Constantinos Papavassilopoulos
Political shockwaves have reversed pay-TV growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as pay-TV subscriptions fell 21% to 4.2 million in 2017.

Singapore moves closer to analog switch-off with household incentive scheme - David Scott
Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has added further incentives to its Digital TV Assistance Scheme (DTVAS) to assist Singapore's 400,000 Housing Development Board (HDB) homes' transition from analog to digital television broadcasting.

Disney launches ESPN's long-awaited direct-to-consumer offer - Erik Brannon, Dan Cryan
Disney has launched online subscription service ESPN+, which will feature 10,000 live MLB, NHL, and other live events.

Vodafone enters the Australian streaming market - David Scott
Vodafone has entered the Australian streaming market with the launch of its Vodafone TV device.

AMC to open the first commercial cinema in Saudi Arabia in April after an almost 38-year ban - Pablo Carrera
US Cinema exhibitor AMC, owned by Chinese conglomerate Wanda, has been the first operator to announce the opening of a cinema in the Kingdom since the ban on commercial cinemas was lifted in December last year.

Fox proposes sale of Sky News to Disney - Tim Westcott
The Walt Disney Company could acquire Sky News to enable the full takeover of Sky by 21st Century Fox.

Sky Italia and Mediaset sign content-sharing agreement - Matteo Marchello
Sky Italia and Mediaset have reached an agreement that could prove pivotal for the future Italian television landscape.

Mobile & Telecom

Third time lucky? Sprint and T-Mobile strike merger deal - Seth Wallis-Jones
Sprint (Softbank) and T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) have announced a new plan to merge the two US businesses in an all stock merger that will leave Deutsche Telekom with a 42% stake to Softbank's 27%.

Singapore moves closer to analog switch-off with household incentive scheme - David Scott
Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has added further incentives to its Digital TV Assistance Scheme (DTVAS) to assist Singapore's 400,000 Housing Development Board (HDB) homes' transition from analog to digital television broadcasting.

Collaborative meeting services grew 10% in 2017 - Matthias Machowinski, Prachi Nema
Worldwide revenue for collaborative meeting services in video and web conferencing reached $2.5 billion in 2017, up 10% from a year earlier.

Vodafone enters the Australian streaming market - David Scott
Vodafone has entered the Australian streaming market with the launch of its Vodafone TV device.

Ethernet access device market up 8 percent year over year in 2017 - Richard Webb
Worldwide Ethernet access device (EAD) revenue totaled $987 million in 2017, increasing 8% over 2016.

Vodafone and O2 are the biggest spenders in UK spectrum auction - James Joiner
UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has announced the results of the principal stage of its recent spectrum auction in the 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz spectrum bands.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

New IKEA smart lighting challenges Philips Hue - Paul Bremner
IKEA has added a color-changing bulb to its smart lighting line, Tradfri.

Amazon is mobilizing against the security industry - Blake Kozak
Amazon has been offering security packages to select cities and states in the United States since around December 2017, albeit somewhat under the radar.

More than 900,000 smart speakers to be used in healthcare facilities by 2021 - Bryan Montany
Over the next five years, most smart speakers will be sold to residential end-users, and penetration rates of smart speakers in commercial buildings are not anticipated to match rates in homes.

Global battery energy storage pipeline reaches record 10.4 GW in the first quarter of 2018 - Julian Jansen
2017 was a record year for deployment of grid-connected battery energy storage.

Smart home: lessons learned - Blake Kozak
In the North American region, the smart home market continues to disrupt major service providers and tech giants.

Power & Energy Technology

Global battery energy storage pipeline reaches record 10.4 GW in the first quarter of 2018 - Julian Jansen
2017 was a record year for deployment of grid-connected battery energy storage.

The tipping point approaches for SaaS in electric smart metering - David Green
Electric utilities are one of the leading industries in the adoption of IoT, a trend set to only increase as the power of "Software as a Service" offerings is on the rise.

Highlights from Energy Thought Summit 2018 - Michael Markides
Energy and utility thought leaders come to the Energy Thought Summit in Austin every March to share fresh stories, discuss successful technology deployments, and work together to reimagine the future of the utility industry.

Security Technology

Amazon is mobilizing against the security industry - Blake Kozak
Amazon has been offering security packages to select cities and states in the United States since around December 2017, albeit somewhat under the radar.

More than 900,000 smart speakers to be used in healthcare facilities by 2021 - Bryan Montany
Over the next five years, most smart speakers will be sold to residential end-users, and penetration rates of smart speakers in commercial buildings are not anticipated to match rates in homes.

Access control as a service invigorates traditional security providers - Anna Sliwon
Revenue for the access control as a service (ACaaS) market is forecast to grow at nearly triple the rate of the traditional access control equipment market over the next five years.

Semiconductors

Market for GaN and SiC power semiconductors to top $10 billion in 2027 - Richard Eden
The emerging market for silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductors is expected to reach nearly $1 billion in 2020, energized by demand from hybrid and electric vehicles, power supplies, and photovoltaic (PV) inverters.

Semiconductors used in electronics post solid growth in Q1 - Myson Robles-Bruce
Global semiconductor revenue derived from chip usage in electronic equipment and devices amounted to $111.4 billion at the end of Q1 2018, up a significant 17% from $95.2 billion during the same quarter a year ago, according to data from a new IHS Markit report.

Automotive sensors: the impact of new forces on vehicle sensor count and use - Richard Dixon, Ph.D.
Part 1: What the increasing standardization of emissions testing and regulations mean for automotive sensors
As the world moves toward harmonizing vehicle emission standards and new testing regulations, what do these developments mean for the automotive sensors market?

Subscriber content

Displays

Guangdong Juhua developing high-PPI RGB printing for small/medium displays - Chase Li
Using RGB printing technology, Guangdong Juhua recently showed a 400 PPI AMOLED cell phone display. The interesting part of the demo is its potential for small/medium display production.

Mobile phone handset demand and display shipment forecasts revised down after Q4-17 actuals - Hiroshi Hayase
AMOLED shipments are expected to outpace LTPS LCD after 2020.

OGM improves OGS by replacing ITO with metal - Calvin Hsieh
Touch-module makers are proposing the use of OGM technology, which boasts improved sheet resistance, to better support active pens for displays and notebook PCs.

65-inch LCD TV price war started before Gen 10.5 ramp-up - Deborah Yang
TV makers have begun to bargain with panel makers for panel allocation and pricing, even though BOE has not proven that it can smoothly ramp up its Gen 10.5 fab.

Displays at China Information Technology Exhibition (CITE) Report - Shenzhen, 2018 - Robin Wu
The CITE (China Information Technology Exhibition) is one of China's largest shows and one of the most critical events for observing trends in electronics and display technology.

Polarizer investment trend in China - Irene Heo
China is using enormous capital to focus on the ultra-wide polarizer line.

Smartphone display trends in 2018 - Joy Guo
New projects being designed-in have almost completely shifted to full-screen models with an 18:9 aspect ratio.

Chinese low-tier TV makers continue to grow their LCD TV business - David Hsieh
BOE VT plans to expand LCD TV and desktop monitor manufacturing capacity via a target of 34 million sets by 2020.

Panel makers to reduce capacity utilization as oversupply of LCD TV open cells continues in Q2 2018 - David Hsieh
Panel makers will start to reduce capacity utilization in Q2 2018 to manage the price reduction of open cells.

Huawei announces Porsche Design Mate RS with LG Display flexible OLED - David Hsieh
The new Huawei Mate RS will feature OLED screens made by LG Display and BOE that will also include an under-display fingerprint sensor.

LCD TV manufacturing outsourcing percentage expected to rise to 48% in 2018 - David Hsieh
The proportion of LCD TVs being outsourced for manufacturing will rise slightly in 2018 from year-ago levels.

AR coating enhancement in notebook applications - Kimi Lin
For a better visual experience, brands such as HP, Dell, and Lenovo apply anti-reflection (AR) coating on touch-screen notebooks.

Chinese TV makers may increase promotions, expand Q2 shipments - Nick Jiang
Chinese LCD TV cost continues decline, but ASP reduction is limited for some sizes.

Chinese TV makers may increase purchases in Q2, possibly increasing inventory - Nick Jiang
A spike in Q1 panel purchases will likely end with a March decrease, before panel-maker promotions and low prices increase panel purchasing in Q2 among TV manufacturers.

Full-screen displays to penetrate low-end smartphone segment - Brian Huh
A spike in Q1 panel purchases will likely end with a March decrease, before panel maker promotions and low prices increase TV maker panel purchasing in Q2.

Large-area panel shipments decrease 9% M/M in February - David Hsieh
Combined, large-area and small/medium TFT LCD panel shipments decreased 18% month over month.

Sharp plans to expand oxide and OLED capacity in 2018 - Linda Lin
Sharp plans to reallocate capacity, increasing the share of oxide and OLED production, but demand may affect the plans.

Four HDR specifications develop in market, each with different performance and cost - Peter Su
Based on a recent survey, IHS Markit determined that there are four different HDR display specifications.

Four-mask process to enable BOE B9 Gen 10.5/11 to reach capacity of 120,000 substrates per month - Charles Annis
Higher productivity provided by the four-mask process could lead to yield trade-offs.

Japan Display's business outlook in H1 2018 - Linda Lin
Japan Display's utilization rate is up due to a recovery in demand from Apple in H1 2018. However, risks related to its customer structure remain a problem.

Nikon announces two new FPD exposure systems for Gen 10.5/11 - Charles Annis
The machines are the first to support 2940 × 3370 mm substrates and offer substantial performance and productivity enhancements over the company's Gen 10 tool.

Media & Advertising

IHS Markit has added new totals for digital and 3D screens in Q1 2018 - Charlotte Jones
IHS Markit has just published digital cinema data for Q1 2018. This includes digital cinema screens, 3D totals, as well as equipment manufacturers and market share comparisons.

PLF screens exceed 3,000 for the first time in 2017 - Charlotte Jones
The number of Premium Large Format (PLF) screens rose by 21.3% in 2017 to 3,191-a new high that for the first time eclipses the 3,000-screen milestone, based on the count for both exhibitor and global-branded screens.

Mobile & Telecom

Reevaluating satellite for mobile backhaul in the LTE era - Abel Nevarez, Richard Webb
There have historically been challenges for satellite as an access and transport technology, owing mainly to cost, latency, and availability.

ZTE faces significant challenges in smartphone business after US Department of Commerce action - Wayne Lam, Jusy Hong, Gerrit Schneemann
The US Department of Commerce has activated a Denial Order against ZTE Corporation.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

Fire TV returns to the battle - Paul Gagnon, Paul Gray
After a weak launch in 2017, Amazon has struck a deal with Best Buy to relaunch the Fire TV platform.

ZTE faces significant challenges in smartphone business after US Department of Commerce action - Wayne Lam, Jusy Hong, Gerrit Schneemann
The US Department of Commerce has activated a Denial Order against ZTE Corporation.

ISC West 2018: Smart home - Blake Kozak
This year's conference did not disappoint. The floor was very busy the first two days and the connected home section seemed to be much larger than in 2017.

Impact of proposed China tariffs on US TV market - Deborah Yang, Paul Gagnon
On 4 April, the US Office of the Trade Representative published a list of 1,300 products that could be subjected to an additional 25% import tariff if coming from China.

Into the fray: Verimatrix sustains its diversification effort - Merrick Kingston
Verimatrix continues to enhance its analytics portfolio by imbuing the Verspective Intelligence product with a broader set of business intelligence functions as well as standardized, off-the-shelf reporting dashboards.

Power & Energy Technology

Solar tenders gaining pace in India in 2018 - Dharmendra Kumar
In Q1 2018, the pace of tender announcements in India picked up after a slow end in 2017.

Changes to the Solar Market Tracker North America - Camron Barati, Maria Chea
For Q1 2018, IHS Markit has made important changes to the Solar Market Tracker North America.

Security Technology

ISC West 2018: Smart home - Blake Kozak
This year's conference did not disappoint. The floor was very busy the first two days and the connected home section seemed to be much larger than in 2017.

Complimentary Content

Displays

• Apple to launch two more high-resolution MacBooks – David Hsieh
  Apple expects to release in 2018 two more 13.3-inch high-resolution, slim-bezel notebook models with oxide TFT LCD technology to cover more market segments. 
• Smartphone AMOLED display trend shifts from rigid to flexible – Calvin Hsieh
  Shipments in 2017 of flexible on-cell AMOLED display for mobile phone applications increased 154% to 96.3 million units from 37.5 million units in 2016.

Enterprise & IT

• Optical DCI market grew 26%, reaching $2.6 billion in 2017 – Heidi Adams
  Year-over-year global revenue in 2017 for optical data center interconnect (DCI) hardware grew 26%, reaching $2.6 billion. 
• Data center network equipment revenue reached $13.7 billion in 2017 – Clifford Grossner, Devan Adams 
  Revenue for data center network equipment, including data center Ethernet switches, ADCs, and SD-WAN, totaled $13.7 billion in 2017, increasing 13% over the previous year. 
• PBX market sinks 8% year over year in 2017 – Diane Myers
  A decline in on-premises private branch exchange (PBX) licenses led the global market to decrease 8% in 2017 from 2016, to $5.7 billion. 
• Best year for Ethernet switching since the recession – Matthias Machowinski
  Worldwide Ethernet switch revenue grew 2% sequentially in Q4 2017 to $6.7 billion, building off the gains from previous quarters. 
• Quarterly LED lamp retail price declines slow to -3.8% – Paul Bremner
  Global LED lamp retail prices in February were 6.3% higher than in January 2018. This increase brings global ASPs to a level only -0.9% lower than prices were in September 2017. 
• 45.4 billion internet connectable devices in 2021: changing the future of colocations – Liz Cruz
  IHS Markit forecasts internet connectable devices to grow from 27.5 billion in 2017 to 45.4 billion in 2021—a 65% increase in just four years.

Healthcare Technology

• ECR 2018 brief: AI – what is it? Augmented, adaptive, or artificial? – Kelly Patrick
  There was heightened buzz around the topic of AI at the 24th European Congress of Radiology, with many vendors citing the integration of data through AI as the next big trend. But what’s new? 
• ECR 2018: first impressions – Bhvita Jani
  ECR 2018 celebrated the diverse specialty of radiology with a symbolic Chinese red dragon centered at the entrance, capturing the enthusiasm, celebration, and passion for radiology at the Austria Centre Vienna. 
• The future of infusion pump software – can’t speak, won’t speak – Kelly Patrick
  Healthcare information is everywhere, but it is not always being used to its fullest capacity. 
• Healthcare attracts many big tech names at HIMSS 2018 – Shane Walker
  While healthcare as a vertical is not new for most of the world’s largest companies, their brand presence within the industry is significantly increasing. 
• How will the increase in global breast cancer be addressed by a decrease in false positives? – Bhvita Jani
  The countable rise of breast cancer incidence globally has heightened pressures for government screening programmes, and strengthened awareness of the benefits of breast cancer screening. 
• Medication inventory management – invasion of the robots – IHS Technology
  The uptake of medication inventory management solutions is accelerating worldwide, and the next several years are expected to see strong growth in this market.

Media & Advertising

• Dogan Holding to sell all its media properties to Demiroren Holding – Constantinos Papavassilopoulos
  Dogan Holding, the largest media group in Turkey, has confirmed that it is in talks to sell all its media assets, including the Dogan TV channel and pay-TV platform D Smart, to Demiroren Holding. 
• China is to set up a cinema network for “patriotic” films – David Hancock
  People’s Cinema Line is a government initiative aimed at creating a nationwide screen network of 5,000 screens that will favour films of a patriotic nature, including those from government departments. 
• Epic Games closes MOBA title “Paragon” but opens up assets – IHS Technology
  Epic Games has announced the closure of its multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title “Paragon,” after nurturing it for two years in beta. 
• Mobile title Vainglory becomes part of Alibaba's WESG lineup – Chenyu Cui
  Super Evil Megacorp, the developer of Vainglory, has announced it will partner Alisports, the sports branch of Alibaba Group. 
• Monster Hunter World sets sales record for Capcom – IHS Technology
  Capcom’s Monster Hunter World, released for Xbox One and PS4 in January, has become the publisher’s best-selling title yet. 
• Cable in context: performance and prospects in the converged world – Ted Hall
  Ted Hall delivered a keynote presentation at Cable Congress 2018, which took place in Dublin on March 6-7. 
• Australia pay-TV market update for Q4 2017 – David Scott
  IHS Markit has updated its Australian pay-TV data given the latest guidance on the performance of market leader Foxtel, provided by major shareholder News Corp Australia. 
• Tencent invests in Douyu and Huya to dominate Chinese esports streaming sector – Chenyu Cui
  Huya announced it raised $461.6 million in its latest series-B funding round, which was led by Tencent on 9 March. And its major rival Douyu received an investment of $632 million from Tencent as well. 
• Discovery completes merger with Scripps to create new factual channel giant – Tim Westcott
  Discovery Communications has completed its acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive, creating a new factual channel programmer with worldwide reach and combined 2017 revenues of $9.8 billion. 
• Sky Deutschland launches Sky Show subscription service in Switzerland – Max Signorelli
  Pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland has launched Sky Show, a new subscription video service in Switzerland. 
• Games console market 2017: Nintendo drives market to 18% growth – Piers Harding-Rolls
  While Sony remains dominant, Nintendo's Switch launch drove the market to its best performance since 2011. 
• Telecom Italia plans voluntary separation of fixed access network – James Joiner
  Telecom Italia has announced its plan to separate its fixed access network division into a new independent legal entity, known as Netco. 
• Video-streaming platform turned mobile-gaming operator Bilibili sets sights on $400 million IPO – Chenyu Cui, Kia Ling Teoh
  According to a prospectus filed on March 2, the online entertainment platform covering video, live broadcasting and mobile games plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange. 
• Chinese streaming platform iQiyi looks to raise $1.5 billion from IPO in the US – Kia Ling Teoh, Jun Wen Woo
  Chinese streaming service iQiyi last week filed a registration statement setting out plans to raise $1.5 billion from an IPO in the US. 
• Swiss vote to maintain public broadcasting – Tim Westcott
  Swiss citizens have voted overwhelmingly to continue funding public broadcaster SRG SSR though receiver fees payable by any household with a radio, TV set, or other device able to receive TV. 
• Test sites grow for LED screens in cinema – David Hancock
  Samsung’s Cinema LED screen is now established in five sites worldwide with the prospect of a further US site soon to open. 
• TDC pulls out of MTG deal after accepting takeover offer from investment consortium – Martyn Hannant
  Danish telecommunications provider TDC Group has scrapped its plan to acquire the Nordic broadcasting assets of Sweden’s Modern Times Group. 
• Sky and Netflix agree on European partnership – Jonathan Broughton, Irina Kornilova, Fateha Begum
  Pan-European pay-TV operator Sky has announced a partnership with global OTT subscription service Netflix, to make Netflix available on its DTH and OTT platforms.

Mobile & Telecom

• Optical DCI market grew 26%, reaching $2.6 billion in 2017 – Heidi Adams
  Year-over-year optical data center interconnect (DCI) hardware revenue grew by 26% globally, reaching $2.6 billion in 2017. 
• Small cell market surges in 2017, energized by rural, remote, and indoor deployments – Stephane Teral, Richard Webb
  Worldwide, 2.3 million small cell units shipped during 2017, resulting in an increase of 39% year over year. 
• Service provider VoIP and IMS down 12% in 2017 as market slows – Diane Myers
  Global service provider VoIP and IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) product revenue fell to $4.5 billion in 2017, a decline of 12% year over year. 
• PBX market sinks 8% year over year in 2017 – Diane Myers
  A decline in on-premises private branch exchange (PBX) licenses led the global market to decrease 8% in 2017 from 2016, to $5.7 billion. 
• Global mobile infrastructure market down 14% from a year ago – Stephane Teral
  For the full year 2017, global 2G/3G/LTE 2017 macro hardware revenue totaled $37.2 billion, declining 14% from $43.3 billion in 2016. 
• Best year for Ethernet switching since the recession – Matthias Machowinski
  Worldwide Ethernet switch revenue grew 2% sequentially in the Q4 2017 to $6.7 billion, building off the gains from previous quarters. 
• Cable in context: performance and prospects in the converged world – Ted Hall
  Ted Hall delivered a keynote presentation at Cable Congress 2018, which took place in Dublin on March 6-7. 
• Australia pay-TV market update for Q4 2017 – David Scott
  IHS Markit has updated its Australian pay-TV data given the latest guidance on the performance of market leader Foxtel, provided by major shareholder News Corp Australia. 
• Mobile World Congress 2018: 5G chipsets are real and launching with smartphones in time for MWC 2019 – Wayne Lam
  The latest news on the 5G chipset front from Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2018.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• More MOCVD reactors leading to 28% GaN LED surplus in 2019 – Jamie Fox
  After assessing planned purchases by suppliers, IHS Markit projects that 330 metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor chambers will be installed in 2018, to produce LEDs fabricated from gallium nitride (GaN). 
• 2018 India TV market outlook – Bing Zhang, Hisakazu Torii
  India is an important, albeit very complicated country to operate in. 
• AMS widens 3D recognition competencies with KeyLemon acquisition – Manuel Tagliavini
  The 3D face-recognition feature is also growing in popularity among Chinese handset OEMs, known for being fast followers and coming up with their own variants to cash in on new trends.

Power & Energy Technology

• European solar PV demand forecast to continue double-digit growth to reach 11 GW in 2018 – Susanne von Aichberger
  In 2017, European solar PV installations grew by 23% year-on-year to surpass 9 GW. 
• Smart metering shows the way forward for IoT adoption – David Green
  A paradox exists within the electric utility industry: Vendors and utilities are uncertain about making clear decisions for their IoT strategy, yet almost 900 million smart electricity meters will ship from 2016 to 2023.

Security Technology

• The world market for city surveillance equipment exceeded $3 billion in 2017 – Jacky Zhang
  The world market for security equipment in city surveillance has registered robust growth in the past few years, surpassing $3 billion in 2017. 
• Identity governance and administration global revenue to reach nearly $6 billion by 2021 – Don Tait
  The global identity governance and administration (IGA) market is projected to increase from $3.2 billion in 2017 to $5.8 billion in 2021. 
• Critical communications IWCE trends 2018 – Alexander Richardson, Jesus Gonzalez
  The IHS Markit Critical Communications team recently attended IWCE 2018 in Orlando, Florida. Discussions with end-users played a key role in shaping our analysis of major trends we noticed at the show. 
• MONI rebrands to BRINKS – Anna Sliwon
  Even though the purchasing of intruder alarm systems and smart security systems is increasingly a lifestyle-related choice, most customers purchasing intruder alarms are usually approached by a security provider or dealer when they move to a new area or through direct home advertising.

Subscriber Content

Displays

• Sharp Display business changes in 2018 with Foxconn adjustments – David Hsieh 
  Sakai Display Product will reduce LCD TV panel shipments from 7.0 million units in 2017 to 6.4 million in 2018. Sharp’s LCD fab plans in the US might change.
• Huawei MateBook Pro notebook with 13.9-inch LTPS TFT LCD panel – David Hsieh 
  LTPS TFT LCD has become the spec for high-end notebook panels thanks to slim bezel and low power consumption.
• Remarkable growth of OLED materials market in H2 2017 – Jimmy Kim, Ph.D. 
  Revenue for OLED materials grew 20% in the second half of 2017 after a slump that had lasted since 2016.
• BOE developed Bright View 3 for high-resolution displays – David Hsieh 
  BOER says Bright View 3 can increase resolution and improve transmittance.
• Samsung may launch micro-LED TV in H2 2018 – David Hsieh 
  Samsung exhibited a 146-inch micro-LED TV at CES 2018 and may commercialize it in H2 2018.
• Active pen specification upgrade in 2018 – Calvin Hsieh 
  The active pen has been a critical differentiating feature for tablet-PC productivity applications. In addition to the Apple Pencil for iPad Pro, Microsoft, and Google are offering pens with upgraded specifications and features.
• AUO and Innolux: Q4 2017 performance, 2018 strategy – Linda Lin 
  AUO and Innolux reported weak financial results for Q4 2017, but performed well overall in 2017.
• Good margins help Chinese TV makers increase purchases – Nick Jiang 
  With panel prices continuing to decrease, Chinese TV makers can improve their margins and still reduce TV-set prices in the end market.
• How will Chinese TV makers regain bargaining power to achieve their business plan? – Nick Jiang 
  Chinese TV makers increased purchases in Q4 2017 but may reduce panel demand again in Q1 2018.
• Samsung targets quantum-dot-on-glass for 2018 LED TV – David Hsieh 
  Instead of traditional quantum dot film on the backlight unit within the LCD TV, Samsung is revamping QLED TV to use quantum-dot-on-glass LGP.
• TV makers aggressively driving down panel prices in March – Deborah Yang 
  Price negotiations will be tough. Will panel makers cut utilization to prevent panel prices from dropping below cost?
• Flat-panel demand to grow 6.4% in 2018 – Ricky Park 
  Declining panel prices will stimulate demand, as demand for larger displays has extended to smartphones, notebooks, and monitor panels.
• Taiwanese small/medium panel supplier 2017 review and 2018 outlook – Stacy Wu 
  Taiwanese panel suppliers reported strong revenue growth and positive operating profit margins in the first half, but second-half performance was weak, mainly due to panel price erosion.

Enterprise & IT

• OFC 2018 highlights: Optical DCI leapfrog contest continues – Heidi Adams 
  The market for compact optical data center interconnect (DCI) platforms is the fastest-growing segment of the optical equipment market.
• OFC 2018: 400GbE data center optics arrive – Esther Cheh 
  One of the biggest themes at OFC 2018 was the volume of announcements around all aspects of the 400GbE client optics/transceivers ecosystem.
• The OCP’s community-driven innovation continues to spread – Clifford Grossner, Vladimir Galabov, Maggie Shillington 
  The 2018 Open Compute Project (OCP) summit was held March 20-21 in San Jose, California, with more than 3,000 people in attendance, an audience that has tripled over the last two years.
• Mobile World Congress 2018 IoT takeaways – Julian Watson 
  IoT, once again, was one of the hot topics/buzzwords at Mobile World Congress.
• Patent licensing industry transitions as we enter the world of 5G – Wayne Lam, Christian Kim 
  During Mobile World Congress 2018, 5G was the most discussed and highlighted topic.

Manufacturing Technology

• Waste reprocessing reviving the mining industry for variable frequency drives – Peter Taylor 
  Growth is forecast to return to the mining industry in 2018 and has led to an increase of reprocessing waste materials to extract metals or minerals that were previously overlooked.

Mobile & Telecom

• OFC 2018 highlights: Optical DCI leapfrog contest continues – Heidi Adams 
  The market for compact optical data center interconnect (DCI) platforms is the fastest-growing segment of the optical equipment market.
• OFC 2018: 400GbE data center optics arrive – Esther Cheh 
  One of the biggest themes at OFC 2018 was the volume of announcements around all aspects of the 400GbE client optics/transceivers ecosystem.
• Huawei looms large over Trump’s decision on Broadcom-Qualcomm deal – Wayne Lam 
  The decision handed down by the Trump administration essentially put an end to the months-long $117 billion hostile bid by Broadcom (AVGO) for Qualcomm (QCOM).
• When 5G millimeter wave meets small cells – Stephane Teral 
  There is no lack of confusing discussions about the need for small cells in 5G. Each time this topic is brought to me—and it comes up regularly these days—I ask the question: what is a 5G small cell?
• MWC18: What the C-level service provider suite says about 5G – Stephane Teral 
  As usual at this time of year, I did my pilgrimage to Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, which according to the GSMA was attended by 107,000 people—1,000 fewer than last year.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• Huawei looms large over Trump’s decision on Broadcom-Qualcomm deal – Wayne Lam 
  The decision handed down by the Trump administration essentially put an end to the months-long $117 billion hostile bid by Broadcom (AVGO) for Qualcomm (QCOM).
• LGE Korea 2018 OLED TV launch event – Ken Park 
  On 6 March, LG Electronics held a launch event for its 2018 premium TV lineup, which included both OLED TVs and Super UHD LCD TVs.

Power & Energy Technology

• Changes to PV Inverter Intelligence Service – Cormac Gilligan 
  In Q1 2018, IHS Markit has replaced the PV Demand Market Tracker with the PV Installations Tracker.
• Changes to PV Module Intelligence Service – Edurne Zoco 
  In Q1 2018, IHS Markit has replaced the PV Demand Market Tracker with the PV Installations Tracker.
• Changes to the Downstream PV Intelligence Service – Josefin Berg 
  In Q1 2018, IHS Markit has made important changes to the Downstream PV Intelligence Service.
• Changes to the Premium Solar Intelligence Service – Edurne Zoco 
  In Q1 2018, IHS Markit has made important changes to the Premium Solar Intelligence Service.
• The OCP’s community-driven innovation continues to spread – Clifford Grossner, Vladimir Galabov, Maggie Shillington 
  The 2018 Open Compute Project (OCP) summit was held March 20-21 in San Jose, California, with more than 3,000 people in attendance, an audience that has tripled over the last two years.
• Steel tariffs deal another blow to a resilient US solar market – Camron Barati 
  On 8 March, the president of the United States approved new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which are to take effect by March 23.
• Key takeaways from World Smart Energy Week 2018 – Cormac Gilligan, Holly Hu, Julian Jansen 
  World Smart Energy Week—including PV Expo, Smart Grid Expo, and Battery Expo—is the leading event in Japan for renewable energy and energy storage.

Semiconductors

• AMFT Executive Summary of forecast changes Q1 2018 – Myson Robles-Bruce 
  This is a brief executive summary of AMFT forecast changes produced exclusively for current subscribers.
• CO₂ dominates the smart-building gas sensor market – Brian O’Rourke 
  The gas sensor market is healthy and growing, with automotive, industrial, consumer, and homes among the leading applications.
• Advancing Oppo and Vivo achieved record chip spending amid slowing global smartphone demand – Chee Seng Tan 
  BBK Electronics’ offshoot, Oppo and Vivo, have taken the smartphone market by storm, rising quickly from market followers to become two of the biggest smartphone companies in the world in a few short years.

As competition intensifies among hotels to cater to guests and encourage repeat business, hotel owners are starting to invest substantial resources into smart building technologies. Hotels are pursuing opportunities to connect guests to comfortable, intuitive, and individualized experiences that differentiate their offerings from those of competitors.

As a result, hoteliers have become eager innovators and market leaders in utilizing cutting-edge IoT-enabled equipment in guest rooms. While less than 10% of smart building products sold in 2018 were installed in hotels, smart building products in retrofit projects are projected to grow most rapidly in hotels during the next five years. The frequency of retrofit projects drives these sales: While most other commercial building types are renovated approximately once every 25-30 years on average, but hotels are generally retrofitted with updated equipment in less than 10-year intervals.

Overall, hospitality is expected to be the fastest-growing end-user industry for connected equipment involving retrofit projects aimed at making buildings "smart." This year, hotels will spend more than $500 million on connected equipment and will invest over $2.2 billion to refurbish guest rooms.

For guests, smart technologies and the integration of domains like energy and security within guest rooms will allow them to customize hotel rooms to match their unique preferences, with room conditions controlled from their mobile devices. In the short term, the most common application will involve mobile credentials, with guests' smartphones acting as electronic keycards to enter their rooms. However, smartphone applications are rapidly expanding to encompass more functionalities, enabling guests to control their room's climate, lighting, and appliance settings through a single device.

Eventually, many of these applications will be integrated with smart speakers, and guests will be able to manage room settings and receive guidance from virtual assistants through voice commands.

Keyless entry through smartphone applications

The most common smart building technology introduced in hotels is mobile credentials, which offers guests an alternative to traditional physical cards or keys to enter guest rooms. When a guest reserves a room, encrypted codes can be sent by push notifications to the guest's smartphone, which then enables the phone to function as a keycard. By holding the smartphone near the room's access control reader, the guest can automatically unlock the door. This technology has the potential to eliminate the need for registered users to stop at the front desk to check in with hotel clerks, as guests would have access to their room key before entering the property. Moreover, digital keys could ensure that access to guest rooms is maintained. While physical keycards can be misplaced, lost or stolen from guests, digital keys remain safe so long as guests have access to their smartphones.

Of all smart building technologies implemented in the hospitality sector, mobile credentials have been the most broadly adopted and are currently used in thousands of properties globally. IHS Markit estimates that between 2-4% of all hotels worldwide will use mobile credentials in 2018 to control access to some of their guest rooms. By 2022, more than 10% of all hotels are projected to utilize mobile credentials in this manner.

While most other smart building technologies have been implemented only by luxury five-star hotel properties, mobile credentials are enjoying broader adoption, with many hotel chains starting to roll out these applications for guests. At present, hotel chains offering rooms compatible with digital keys include the Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood, spread across approximately 1,000 properties, mostly located in North America. Still, digital keys are not equally optimal for all guests, so hotels incorporating this functionality are also maintaining conventional card access as an option for most of their guest rooms.

Mobile applications and smart guest rooms

As hotel guests become more accustomed to using smartphone programs to access their rooms, hoteliers can pursue opportunities to connect these applications to building management system (BMS) platforms. For instance, equipment from the energy and security domains in guest rooms can be linked together through centralized BMS platforms, and all domains can subsequently be controlled through customized inputs in the application.

Through these advanced in-room controls, guests can control variables associated with the lighting, temperature, blinds, and appliances in their rooms through their phones. This technology offers guests the opportunity to set personalized conditions for their rooms remotely, and variables can be altered before future occupants even arrive at the hotel. The most sophisticated room-control software can even remember guest preferences, automatically matching the room's parameters to occupants on the day of their reservations.

At present, smart in-room control of guest rooms currently lags behind mobile credentials in adoption rates, with less than 1% of all hotels currently integrating building management systems with smartphone applications. Even so, this technology is expected to grow dramatically in the next five years. Hilton is the first major hotel chain beginning to roll out guest room control as a new feature in their Hilton Honors smartphone application.

In the future, many hotels will also integrate smart speakers with their BMS platforms in guest rooms, enabling guests to alter lighting and climate parameters in rooms through voice commands. As with mobile credentials, hotels will generally offer guests the option to choose rooms with or without such functionality, as many guests will prefer to stay in traditional rooms without smart speakers, owing to privacy concerns. In general, voice-activated products will be more popular among hotels catering to millennials and in hotels located in technological hubs, such as Silicon Valley, Zurich, Munich, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Hotels will act as trendsetters for smart buildings

Smart mirrors are another device that have started to appear in the hotel industry. In smart mirrors, the electronics are embedded to add capabilities to the mirror's reflective surface, which can display entertainment or provide pertinent information to guests. While this technology is most commonly used to provide customers with immersive shopping experiences, many luxury hotels have begun experimenting with its implementation in guest rooms. Aside from providing screens to watch television or access the Internet, smart mirrors that are integrated with BMS platforms can provide users with an additional entry point to alter their room's lighting and temperature parameters.

A few hotels are even beginning to invest in robot butlers that can provide room services for guests. Hundreds of two- and three-foot-tall robot helpers are currently operating in hotels throughout North America and Western Europe. Most of these robots are designed to complete a single task, such as luggage handling or toiletry delivery. When the artificial intelligence in these robots is connected to a hotel's mobile application, customers can quickly prompt robots to perform services through their smartphones. Larger humanoid robots can now also be found, performing limited applications in labor-starved countries such as Japan, where they can be programmed to greet guests and answer basic inquiries.

The frequency of hotel retrofit projects and the highly competitive nature of the hospitality industry will mean that luxury hotels take a leading role in experimenting with new smart buildings technologies and integrating them with BMS platforms. With the hotel market expected to grow, more opportunities will be present for both start-ups and new market entrants of smart building technologies to penetrate-and potentially disrupt-the hotel industry, IHS Markit predicts.

To this end, companies like Telkonet are creating BMS platforms specifically catering to hotels, with the capability to store and recall guest preferences for connected domains. Unlike conventional BMS platforms from established building automation and IT companies that were frequently designed with offices and other commercial spaces in mind, the new platforms offer customization at the room level required to serve the needs of hotels.

Also projected to gain traction in the hospitality sector are providers of equipment suited for smart homes, such as ecobee smart thermostats, since hoteliers are expected to increasingly adopt smart home products in guest rooms.

Bryan Montany is Research Analyst II, Building Automation and Smart Buildings, at the IHS Technology Group within IHS Markit
Posted 23 May 2018

With their warm colors and excellent color contrast, OLED displays are superior compared to LCDs, as many end-users will vouch. But OLED displays are also notoriously difficult to produce on a large scale. Now a Chinese company, Guangdong Juhua, has shown what a little-known but budding technology could do to increase production yield rates while also lowering manufacturing costs in OLED display manufacturing.

At the International Conference on Display Technology (ICDT) held April in Guangzhou, southern China, the manufacturer Guangdong Juhua showed in a demo how inkjet technology could be used in three-color RGB printing of materials for OLED displays. On hand were a 31-inch Full HD AMOLED panel as well as a 5-inch AMOLED panel boasting a noteworthy 400 pixels per inch (PPI) of resolution.

Unlike previously demonstrated RGB-printed panels, the smaller model's sample resolution can be used for small/medium display applications. Moreover, if a smaller nozzle were used, resolution could even reach 500 or 600 ppi—a rate competitive with that of high-resolution AMOLED panels currently produced through Fine Metal Mask (FMM) technology.

The successful demonstration by Guangdong Juhua shows the potential of inkjet technology in the manufacture of RGB AMOLED displays, for use in target applications including industrial, medical, and digital signage.

A product of two Chinese giants

Guangdong Juhua was founded in 2016 by two big Chinese display panel makers, China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT, a TCL company) and the Tianma Group. Juhua serves as a research and development facility to focus on printing AMOLED and Quantum Dot (QD) technology, and to act as a platform for integrating the entire supply chain for printing AMOLED and QD panels in China. More companies have joined the open platform this year, and Guangdong Juhua plans to explore the use of printing technology in the production of OLED displays.

At present, Guangdong Juhua can use RGB printing technology in small, medium, and large displays, according to the AMOLED and LCD Supply Demand & Equipment Tracker from IHS Markit.

Pixel design in RGB printing: A new way of thinking

In his demo at the conference, Dr. Jinyao Song, also the media contact at Guangdong Juhua, combined the liquid-flow characteristics of inkjet printing with an S-strip pixel layout, taking advantage of the liquid flow in the bank, as depicted in the figure below.

The basic approach uses a microstructure that splits ink into different areas inside the bank during the liquid evaporation phase. Each area has its own thin-film transistor (TFT), allowing each area to be lit independently. Since the microstructure is made via a photolithography process, finer patterns with smaller widths can be achieved. This means less spacing is required between subpixels from the same bank, and more room is available to place extra pixels in the mother glass.

As a printing design, this pixel method delivers several advantages, including the following:

• Because multiple pixels are formed by ink-splitting, the printing time can be reduced, with fewer runs for the deposition of one functional layer. This increases production line efficiency.
• Pixel density in PPI can be doubled—or even tripled—without inkjet systems being changed, which saves on costs.
• By using a smaller print head, it is possible to print panels with a resolution of 500 PPI or higher. Unlike the S‑PenTile structure used in current AMOLED panels, it is possible to have all R, G, and B colors present in one pixel via the printing method, resulting in better color performance.

Printing for small/medium OLED display production

What makes the ICDT demo interesting is the potential for RGB OLED manufacturing, through inkjet printing, for use in producing small- and medium-sized displays, as discussed in the IHS Markit AMOLED & Flexible Display Intelligence Service. Adopting this technology in the Gen 6 line, which targets cellphone and tablet panel use, would provide the following advantages:

• Where TV applications are involved, produces higher yield rates than when printing on Gen 8-and-higher lines
• Allows for more panels to be cut from the mother glass, which increases yield
• Cuts risk in the production of small displays—though not as much when large displays are involved. The current evaporator technique is mature for OLED materials such as electron transport layers (ETL) and electron injection layers (EIL), which means there is no need to purchase large evaporators, like Gen 10.5, for TV applications.
• Lowers the cost of AMOLED if the RGB printing yield rate uses an FMM method. RGB printing can increase the competitive strength of AMOLED at a lower price—FMM is not needed for printed functional layers, fewer chambers are needed for the evaporator, and material usage is higher

Despite the various advantages offered by RGB OLED-inkjet, the technology still carries risks, such as concerns on material performance as well as the so-called Mura Effect—the clouding of the display panel because of defective illumination, showing up as blotches, dots or stains when the panel is examined closely in darkly lit environments.

For these reasons, it is best to reserve RGB OLED inkjet printing for small- and medium-sized displays for the future rather than deploy the technology for mass production too soon, IHS Markit believes.

David Hsieh is Research & Analysis Director within the IHS Technology Group at IHS Markit
Posted 30 May 2016

or 600 ppi

Complimentary Content

Transformative Technologies

• As IoT competition intensifies, T-Mobile US and Sprint seek 5G leadership – Julian Watson
  In late April of this year, T-Mobile US announced plans to merge with its domestic competitor, Sprint Corporation.

Automotive

• Automotive sensors: the impact of new forces on vehicle sensor count and use (Part 2) - Richard Dixon, Ph.D.
  Post-2020, European legislation has proposals in place that specify 95g CO2 / km, and a vision to reach 70g CO2 / km by 2025.

Building, Home & City Technology

• Lighting equipment attached to BMS platforms will exceed $4.5 billion in 2022 – Paul Bremner
  At Light+Building 2018 the leading lighting companies, Philips Lighting and Osram both announced their own BMS platforms, Interact and Lightelligence, respectively.
• Global home appliance industry continues to consolidate; companies undergo transformation – Dinesh Kithany
  The major home appliance supplier market continues to consolidate within the top 10 appliance companies, which accounted for 66% of global unit shipments in 2017, compared to 57% in 2015.
• United States to quadruple installed base of residential battery energy storage from 2018 to 2022 – Camron Barati
  The installed base of residential energy storage is forecast to quadruple by 2022, as more than 850 MW is deployed in the market.
• Turbulence hits the $12.5 billion alarm monitoring market – Blake Kozak
  Despite the increased pressure from do-it-yourself (DIY) systems, the professional alarm-monitoring market is expected to thrive over the next five years, as connected systems supersede traditional alarm-monitoring systems.

Displays

• Large-area display shipments beat expectations in Q1 2018 – Yoonsung Chung
  Panel area and unit shipments for large-area displays grew due to a production capacity increase in China, but panel prices have been falling for almost a year.
• Display-based fingerprint solutions Q & A – David Hsieh
  Because of technological limitations, under-display solutions alone will be making use of CMOS image sensors (CIS) in H2 2017 and H1 2018.
• Samsung Display’s fab restructuring strategy and outlook – Alex Kang
  Samsung Display is expected to accelerate efforts to restructure fabs around premium LCD and flexible AMOLED panels.
• Foxconn lowers business targets for 2018, updates its plans for China and North America – Deborah Yang
  Sharp plans to go back to a base-case shipment target for China in 2018.
• JOLED gets fundraising and fab support in early 2018 – Linda Lin
  After a merger with JDI terminated, JOLED received fab support from INCJ and 50 billion yen from the Japanese capital market at the end of Q1 2018. The stagnating business has been rescued in the short term.

Enterprise & IT

• LED lamp retail price falls below $13 in May – Paul Bremner
  Global LED lamp retail prices in May were 3.3% lower than a month ago in April. The decrease in global ASPs continues a declining trend line.
• Optical equipment market off to slow start in 2018 – Heidi Adams
  Global optical network hardware revenue totaled $3.1 billion in Q1 2018, declining 25% sequentially and remaining flat on a year-over-year basis.
• How the new GDPR helps smart cities adoption in the EU – Noman Akhtar
  Data gleaned from individuals serve as the foundation of smart cities, but privacy is a major concern.
• Machine learning beginning to shape data center infrastructure – Lucas Beran
  The terms AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) have become common technology buzzwords. Businesses and analysts alike are touting how transformative AI and ML can be, fueled by massive amounts of data from the always increasing IoT (Internet of Things) ecosystem.
• As IoT competition intensifies, T-Mobile US and Sprint seek 5G leadership – Julian Watson
  In late April, T-Mobile US announced plans to merge with its domestic competitor, Sprint. This is the third time a merger between the third- and fourth-largest US wireless service providers has been proposed.
• Trends led by open infrastructure architectures that vendors can leverage – Maggie Shillington
  For many traditional vendors, the market’s move to open infrastructure architecture is frightening. Many vendors see the move as a driving force of the commoditization of infrastructure components.
• Cloud services to reach $374 billion in 2022, as AI and machine learning integrations flourish – Clifford Grossner
  The off-premises cloud service market is expected to reach $374 billion in 2022, at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.7%.

Healthcare Technology

• Connectivity is everywhere, but continuity is nowhere – Roeen Roashan
  The value proposition of consumer medical devices should not be ignored—not now, as consumers increasingly engage in personal health; nor in the future of healthcare, where patient generated data is instrumental in population health management.
• Chinese and US ultrasound equipment sales propelled global market forward in 2017 – Holley Lewis
  Global ultrasound revenues totaled $6,644.1 million in 2017 and grew 7.6% from 2016, representing the largest year-over-year market growth rate in several years.
• Cyber security: Baby steps to ensure the healthcare industry “NeverCries” – Kelly Patrick
  As the clinical benefits of a digital healthcare system unfold and spread throughout the world, securing healthcare systems and patient information has never been more important, especially in the face of growing cyber-security threats and attacks.
• Disruptive innovation and transformative tech ruled at HLTH – Shane Walker
  With the spotlight trained on new buzzword mechanisms like auc and augmented intelligence, disruptive innovation and transformative technologies in healthcare were the subjects of lively debate and discussion at this year’s HLTH conference.

Manufacturing Technology

• Medium-voltage drives and NGL markets – Kevin Schiller
  Fixed investment is finally returning to the North American energy sector. However, operations and market dynamics evolved considerably during the downturn, resulting in a shift in subsector machinery and medium-voltage drive demand.
• Market for industrial Ethernet infrastructure components making strong gains – Syed Mohsin Ali
  Global revenue from industrial Ethernet infrastructure components in 2017 is estimated to have hit $2.2 billion.

Media & Advertising

• Canal Plus loses out to Mediapro in French football rights auction – Tim Westcott
  Canal Plus has been left empty-handed in the auction for domestic rights to French football from 2020, with Mediapro winning the bidding for three of seven packages of live rights; and BeInSports, which currently shares live rights with Canal Plus, securing one package.
• Video-streaming platform Huya files for IPO in the US – Chenyu Cui, Kia Ling Teoh
  Huya has successfully completed an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $180 million. This comes after the company received a round of investment totaling $462 million, led by Tencent, just back in March 2018.
• Amazon strikes first major operator partnership deal – Max Signorelli
  The Amazon Prime Video app is to be made available via UK telco BT’s TV set-top boxes in June 2018, in a first-of-its-kind partnership deal for the global e-commerce and online video giant.
• New Malaysian government to boost ad revenue, confidence, and competition – Kia Ling Teoh
  Malaysia recently held its 14th general election, which concluded in the welcoming of a new government on 10 May 2018. This marks the first-ever change in government since the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition came to power in 1957—the year Malaysia gained independence from the British.
• Media management industry moves to services-based business model, focusing on faster and cheaper workflow – Andrew Young
  In the media management market, migration from selling equipment-based solutions to service-based solutions is deploying massively this year.
• Ride-hailing app Go-Jek to launch video streaming service after financial services expansion – Jun Wen Woo, Ruomeng Wang
  Indonesian-based ride-hailing company Go-Jek plans to launch its own online video subscription service, Go-Play.
• Messaging apps exceeded 6 billion combined monthly active users in 2017 – Jun Wen Woo
  Mobile messaging apps tracked by IHS Markit achieved a combined user base of 6.1 billion monthly active users by the end of 2017. As the market matures, the overall growth rate is slowing and smaller players are struggling.
• Snap's new Spectacles face major challenges despite improvements – Jack Kent
  US-based Snap, parent of messaging app Snapchat, has launched its second wearable product Spectacles V2.

Mobile & Telecom

• Optical equipment market off to slow start in 2018 – Heidi Adams
  Global optical network hardware revenue totaled $3.1 billion in Q1 2018, declining 25% sequentially and remaining flat on a year-over-year basis.
• MEMS microphones generate new buzz, face resonant future – Manuel Tagliavini
  The highlights on the latest trends and technologies in the MEMS Microphone market, with references to MEMS Microphones Report – 2017.
• LG looks to buy time with the G7 ThinQ – Gerri Schneemann
  LG Mobile announced its latest flagship handset, steering away from the crowded launch window surrounding Mobile World Congress in February.
• How the new GDPR helps smart cities adoption in the EU – Noman Akhtar
  Data gleaned from individuals serve as the foundation of smart cities, but privacy is a major concern.
• BT outlines new consumer strategy – James Joiner, Fateha Begum
  BT this week outlined the new strategy for its consumer division, which encompasses the BT, EE, and Plusnet brands. At the centre of the strategy is the theme of convergence, with several announcements in this area.
• Xiaomi showcases the Mi Mix 2S, adding wireless charging – Zaker Li
  The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S is the third generation in the Xiaomi MIX series, positioned as a showcase device for Xiaomi’s R&D capabilities.
• Media management industry moves to services-based business model, focusing on faster and cheaper workflow – Andrew Young
  In the media management market, migration from selling equipment-based solutions to service-based solutions is deploying massively this year.
• Huawei sustains plateaued service provider outsourcing market – Stephane Teral
  Despite unabated need for service providers to outsource non-core tasks, 2017 was marked by slower growth in the service provider outsourcing market.
• Cumulative $3.5 billion to be spent on carrier Wi-Fi equipment between 2018 and 2022 – Richard Webb
  The carrier Wi-Fi equipment market continued to grow in 2017, driven by ongoing broadband demand and a strong role within the 5G era.
• Ride-hailing app Go-Jek to launch video streaming service after financial services expansion – Jun Wen Woo, Ruomeng Wang
  Indonesian-based ride-hailing company Go-Jek plans to launch its own online video subscription service, Go-Play.
• Messaging apps exceeded 6 billion combined monthly active users in 2017 – Jun Wen Woo
  Mobile messaging apps tracked by IHS Markit achieved a combined user base of 6.1 billion monthly active users by the end of 2017. As the market matures, the overall growth rate is slowing and smaller players are struggling.
• Xiaomi smartphone shipments grew 129% in Q1 – Wayne Lam, Jusy Hong, Gerrit Schneemann, Ying Yang
  Total year-over-year global smartphone shipments increased 2%, reaching 345.5 million units in Q1 2018.
• Snap's new Spectacles face major challenges despite improvements – Jack Kent
  US-based Snap, parent of messaging app Snapchat, has launched its second wearable product Spectacles V2.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• MEMS microphones generate new buzz, face resonant future – Manuel Tagliavini
  The highlights on the latest trends and technologies in the MEMS Microphone market, with references to MEMS Microphones Report – 2017.
• Global home appliance industry continues to consolidate; companies undergo transformation – Dinesh Kithany
  The major home appliance supplier market continues to consolidate within the top 10 appliance companies, which accounted for 66% of global unit shipments in 2017, compared to 57% in 2015.
• LG looks to buy time with the G7 ThinQ – Gerri Schneemann
  LG Mobile announced its latest flagship handset, steering away from the crowded launch window surrounding Mobile World Congress in February.
• Xiaomi showcases the Mi Mix 2S, adding wireless charging – Zaker Li
  The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S is the third generation in the Xiaomi MIX series, positioned as a showcase device for Xiaomi’s R&D capabilities.
• Lighting equipment attached to BMS platforms will exceed $4.5 billion in 2022 – Paul Bremner
  At Light+Building 2018 the leading lighting companies, Philips Lighting and Osram both announced their own BMS platforms, Interact and Lightelligence, respectively.
• Media management industry moves to services-based business model, focusing on faster and cheaper workflow – Andrew Young
  In the media management market, migration from selling equipment-based solutions to service-based solutions is deploying massively this year.
• United States to quadruple installed base of residential battery energy storage from 2018 to 2022 – Camron Barati
  The installed base of residential energy storage is forecast to quadruple by 2022, as more than 850 MW is deployed in the market.
• Turbulence hits the $12.5 billion alarm monitoring market – Blake Kozak
  Despite the increased pressure from do-it-yourself (DIY) systems, the professional alarm-monitoring market is expected to thrive over the next five years, as connected systems supersede traditional alarm-monitoring systems.
• Xiaomi smartphone shipments grew 129% in Q1 – Wayne Lam, Jusy Hong, Gerrit Schneemann, Ying Yang
  Total year-over-year global smartphone shipments increased 2%, reaching 345.5 million units in Q1 2018.

Power & Energy Technology

• Managed services are making waves in the smart water meter market – David Green, Thomas Frashier
  Changing business models and “as a Service” offerings will help drive over $0.5 billion of new smart meter data-related spending from water utilities before the end of 2023.
• The tipping point approaches for SaaS in electric smart metering - David Green
  Leading solar inverter supplier SolarEdge announced on 9 May 2018 its intention to acquire Gamatronic, a manufacturer of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems.
• SolarEdge acquires UPS supplier Gamatronic, signaling race for PV inverter suppliers to diversify business models – Cormac Gilligan, Lucas Beran
  Leading solar inverter supplier SolarEdge announced on 9 May 2018 its intention to acquire Gamatronic, a manufacturer of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems.
• Solar mandate for new home construction in California provides a boost to the US residential solar industry – Camron Barati
  The California Energy Commission (CEC) voted in May to approve measures associated with California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards that require solar to be incorporated with all new residential homes in the state starting 1 January 2020.
• United States to quadruple installed base of residential battery energy storage from 2018 to 2022 – Camron Barati
  The installed base of residential energy storage is forecast to quadruple by 2022, as more than 850 megawatts is deployed in the market.

Security Technology

• The convergence of ICT and video surveillance technologies is accelerating – Monica Wang
  As more large-scale video surveillance projects, such as those for safe cities, are being deployed around the world, information communications technology (ICT) infrastructure is becoming an increasingly important aspect of project implementation.
• How the new GDPR helps smart cities adoption in the EU – Noman Akhtar
  Data gleaned from individuals serve as the foundation of smart cities, but privacy is a major concern.
• IBCon to showcase the “Age of Acceleration” for smart building projects – Bryan Montany
  This year’s theme for IBCon identifies 2018 as the beginning of a new “Age of Acceleration,” marked by innovative IoT-enabled products and the use of artificial intelligence in building management system (BMS) platforms.
• Identity and access management shares for 2016 and competitive environment – Don Tait
  The top 10 access management companies accounted for 38.8% of total global revenues in 2016. In contrast, the top 10 identity governance and administration companies accounted for 45.8% of total global revenues in 2016.
• Led by Asia and the Americas, global TETRA shipments increased by 16% in 2017 – Ryan Darrand
  Terrestrial radio (TETRA) deployments increased globally by 16%, as mature markets around the world continued to refresh, and as new TETRA users continued to come online.
• Canon acquires BriefCam: our take – Oliver Philippou
  This morning, Canon acquired BriefCam. Many video surveillance equipment vendors expect that future solution differentiation will be based on software.
• Turbulence hits the $12.5 billion alarm monitoring market – Blake Kozak
  Despite the increased pressure from do-it-yourself (DIY) systems, the professional alarm-monitoring market is expected to thrive over the next five years, as connected systems supersede traditional alarm-monitoring systems.

Semiconductors

• MEMS microphones generate new buzz, face resonant future – Manuel Tagliavini
  The highlights on the latest trends and technologies in the MEMS Microphone market, with references to MEMS Microphones Report – 2017.
• Automotive power semiconductors growth accelerating – Kevin Anderson
  The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue and unit shipments of power semiconductors, including power discretes, power modules, and power integrated circuits (ICs), is forecast to grow 7% from 2017 to 2023.
• Market for industrial Ethernet infrastructure components making strong gains – Syed Mohsin Ali
  Global revenue from industrial Ethernet infrastructure components in 2017 is estimated to have hit $2.2 billion.
• Automotive sensors: the impact of new forces on vehicle sensor count and use (Part 2) – Richard Dixon, Ph.D.
  Post-2020, European legislation has proposals in place that specify 95g CO2 / km, and a vision to reach 70g CO2 / km by 2025.

Subscriber Content

Building, Home & City Technology

• What are the success factors for fixed wireless access? – Richard Webb
  There is currently much excitement about fixed wireless access (FWA) using millimeter wave spectrum (mmW), particularly in North America. Millimeter wave offers significant throughput performance with a channel size of up to 900 MHz but has coverage challenges. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

Displays

• Chinese policy drives display capacity expansion in weak market – Chase Li
  When new Chinese government policies supporting the industry are announced, new LCD and AMOLED fabs follow, despite the weak displays market.
• Large-area panel shipments decrease 9% M/M in April – Robin Wu
  The month-over-month decline in large-area panel shipments in April was offset by a 5% rise in year-over-year shipments for the month compared to the same time a year ago.
• Notebook PC with touch: 2017 growth to continue in coming years – Kimi Lin
  Shipments in 2017 of notebook PCs with touch had a remarkable 34% Y/Y growth owing to PC brand promotions and the affordable cost of touch modules.
• COF driver IC bonding will increase with full-screen smartphones – David Hsieh
  COF is better than COG for ultra-slim bezel display panels, especially on the bottom of full-screen smartphones.
• Large-area display shipment forecast for 2018: TVs lead with double-digit area growth – Yoonsung Chung
  Large-area display shipments by area are forecast to grow 10% Y/Y as panel makers respond to new TV display capacity in China and a worsening oversupply with size migration.
• OLED in 2018: Mobile oversupply, TV panel shortage – David Hsieh
  Because of cost, yield rate, and the market’s preference for LTPS displays, demand for flexible OLED smartphone panels has been lower than expected this year.
• OLED materials market enjoy remarkable growth in H2 2017 – Jimmy Kim, Ph.D.
  Revenue from OLED materials grew 20% in the second half of 2017, breaking a slump since 2016.
• Wide-color gamut solutions for displays: LCD, OLED, quantum dots, and micro-LED
  There are at least eight methods for achieving wide-color gamut.
• Augmented reality regarded as potential application for educational tablets – Jason Hsu
  Augmented reality (AR) technologies can help students obtain both a view of the real world and virtual supporting information at the same time.
• Global touch panel market falls into low growth – Kimi Lin
  Future shipment growth of touch panels will be slow because of the mature smartphone market
• New China TV OEM Cost & Price Tracker added to TV Display & OEM Intelligence Service – Deborah Yang
  Margins for 49- and 55-inch TV panels fell further, while margin for the 65-inch UHD remained low.
• BOE announces B12, its third Gen 6 OLED fab, with 38.5% from Chinese government – David Hsieh
  The new BOE fab will aim to supply OLED panels for Apple iPhones.
• Creating a win-win by adopting slim-border on notebook display – Jason Hsu
  Brands prefer migrating display modules to a slim border instead of upgrading to FHD with a conventional VESA design.
• Difficulty in analyzing Chinese panel-maker profitability – Chase Li
  Some panel makers hide profits and shift gains from their panel businesses by making transactions with self-owned companies.
• Full-screen smartphone display changes 2017-2019 – David Hsieh
  Full-screen with COF driver IC and full-screen with hole design will prevail in H2 2018 and 2019, respectively.
• Korean demand for TV panels up slightly in Q2, while Chinese demand downsizes – Deborah Yang
  Panel-price negotiations are important to Korean and Chinese TV maker demand in Q2.
• Panel prices are likely to fall to last-cycle lows – Deborah Yang
  The Q2 2018 correction will be deeper than expected.
• Blackcow Food, holding company of Visionox, will change name to Visionox Technology – Chase Li
  Blackcow’s beginnings were in the food industry, but in 2016 it started stripping away the food-related business and entered the OLED industry by investing in Jiangsu Visionox.
• Emerging display fingerprint trend – Calvin Hsieh
  Display fingerprint solutions are surging due to the full-screen display trend.
• Panel makers’ fab utilization and inventory forecast for Q2 2018 – Alex Kang
  Large-LCD panel inventory is expected to continue to increase in Q2, but panel makers are reluctant to adjust utilization and output significantly.
• Flexible OLED smartphone display shipment forecast for 2018 reduced to 167 million – David Hsieh
  While the flexible OLED forecast is lower, the forecast for rigid OLED has been increased to 285 million.
• Foxconn (Hon Hai) registers Flying Eagle trademark in United States – David Hsieh
  Sharp is selling a high-end 60-inch LCD TV in China for 3,999 yuan and a 70-inch LCD TV for 6,399 yuan.
• Chinese TV makers decrease purchasing in Q2 – Nick Jiang
  Chinese tier 1 TV makers increased inventory in March, but may reduce it in April.
• Effect of Korean panel makers’ restructuring of product mix on large LCD panel shipments – Alex Kang
  Over the last few years, Korean panel makers have reorganized their product mix with a focus on high value-added products—a trend that will accelerate in 2018.
• Huawei 2018-2019 smartphone display roadmap with panel suppliers – David Hsieh
  Huawei is asking display suppliers to provide notch-design plus chip-on-film (COF) driver IC bonding for H2 2018.
• Large-area panel shipments increase 13% M/M in March – Robin Wu
  Combined, large-area and small/medium TFT LCD panel shipments increased 16% M/M.
• 1-watt power consumption notebook display – David Hsieh
  Intel is working with two panel suppliers to develop a super-low-power consumption notebook display.
• 2017 smartphone AMOLED display shipment review – Brian Huh The International Conference on Display Technology (ICDT) 2018 covered a wide range of new display technologies, from the latest experimental approaches to the cutting-edge technology trend in display production.
• Displays at ICDT - 2018 - Kimi Lin, Chase Li
  The International Conference on Display Technology (ICDT) 2018 covered a wide range of new display technologies, from the latest experimental approaches to the cutting-edge technology trend in display production.

Enterprise & IT

• Huawei Global Analyst Summit 2018: Going all-in on the Cloud and AI – Devan Adams
  The Huawei Global Analyst Summit (HAS) 2018 was held in Shenzhen, China, from April 17 to 19, with roughly 600 customers, partners, and analysts from around the world attending.
• Sigfox clarifies network connections, amid speculation about the company’s prospects – Lee Ratliff
  In a blog post in May, Sigfox, a private start-up Internet of Things (IoT) service provider, disclosed it had more than 3 million nodes connected to its network, seeming to signal a new level of transparency from the company.
• Arista sets its sights on the campus – Matthias Machowinski
  Arista’s current switching products are not geared toward the campus networking market. More importantly, Arista doesn’t have a wireless networking portfolio.
• Huawei Analyst Summit 2018: Carrier networks at a crossroads – Heidi Adams
  This year’s Huawei Global Analyst Summit provided a good overall view of the state of the telecommunications industry, with a primary focus on business in China and Asia.

Manufacturing Technology

• Shortage of components generates worries—and opportunities—in the low-voltage drive market – Peter Taylor
  2017 saw growth return to the low-voltage drive market, with many suppliers experiencing increased demand from machine builders. But anxiety is emerging over the supply of some electronic components, particularly insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs).

Media & Advertising

• Italian Serie A clubs cancel rights deal with Mediapro – Matteo Marchello
  Italy's top football clubs have decided to terminate the deal currently in place with Mediapro for rights to the next three seasons of Serie A, beginning in 2018/19.
• Changes to the Games Pricing Database within Games Intelligence Premium – IHS Markit
  As of this month, our Games Pricing Database has been relaunched, with a change in focus and coverage now dedicated to first-party digital stores for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, in both the US and UK.
• Console Hardware – Q1 2018 – IHS Markit
  There was a mixture of fortunes for the hardware manufacturers in Q1 2018. In the Western World, PS4 sell-through to consumers declined year-on-year versus Q1 2017 but remained positive in Asia, including Japan.
• Back-end service specialists PlayFab and GameSparks snapped up by Microsoft and Amazon – IHS Markit
  Microsoft has purchased PlayFab for an undisclosed sum. The USA-based firm specialises in cloud-operated back-end services for games, such as player management, social features, testing and analytics.
• Cisco exits video - rationale and implications – Merrick Kingston
  Following a lengthy review of its Service Provider video business, Cisco is divesting its Service Provider Video Software Solutions (SPVSS) segment.

Mobile & Telecom

• What are the success factors for fixed wireless access? – Richard Webb
  There is currently much excitement about fixed wireless access (FWA) using millimeter wave spectrum (mmW), particularly in North America. Millimeter wave offers significant throughput performance with a channel size of up to 900 MHz but has coverage challenges. Clients, please log in to view the full content.
• DTW 2018: The winding, bumpy road to digital transformation – Stephane Teral
  That’s what we heard first thing in the morning when TM Forum CEO Nik Willetts kicked off this year’s plenary session in rainy Nice, France.
• Welcome to the Brooklyn 6G Summit! – Stephane Teral
  Back to the annual pilgrimage to the Brooklyn 5G Summit! This year was the fifth, and you can certainly expect the sixth Summit in 2019 to be renamed 6G, as this topic was a major lunchtime discussion Wednesday April 25 and Thursday April 26.
• Vodafone to acquire Liberty Global assets in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania – Martyn Hannant, James Joiner
  Vodafone is to acquire Liberty Global assets in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania, for a total value of €18.4 billion ($22.7 billion).
• Arista sets its sights on the campus – Matthias Machowinski
  Arista’s current switching products are not geared toward the campus networking market. More importantly, Arista doesn’t have a wireless networking portfolio.
• Cisco exits video - rationale and implications – Merrick Kingston
  Following a lengthy review of its Service Provider video business, Cisco is divesting its Service Provider Video Software Solutions (SPVSS) segment.
• Huawei Analyst Summit 2018: Carrier networks at a crossroads – Heidi Adams
  This year’s Huawei Global Analyst Summit provided a good overall view of the state of the telecommunications industry, with a primary focus on business in China and Asia.
• Unleashing the new 5G un-carrier – Stephane Teral
  This is the third time a merger between the third- and fourth-largest US wireless service providers has been proposed. The previous time, last year, the deal ended over a dispute over who would control the combined business.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• What are the success factors for fixed wireless access? – Richard Webb
  There is currently much excitement about fixed wireless access (FWA) using millimeter wave spectrum (mmW), particularly in North America. Millimeter wave offers significant throughput performance with a channel size of up to 900 MHz but has coverage challenges. Clients, please log in to view the full content.
• Cisco exits video - rationale and implications – Merrick Kingston
  Following a lengthy review of its Service Provider video business, Cisco is divesting its Service Provider Video Software Solutions (SPVSS) segment.

Power & Energy Technology

• Energy storage established as a key component of New Jersey’s clean energy agenda with a 2 GW target – Julian Jansen
  On 23 May 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law A3723/S2314, making New Jersey the fifth state to adopt an energy storage target.
• Insights from ESACon 2018 – Energy storage in the United States is ready to fulfil its true potential – Julian Jansen
  At the ESA Annual Conference 2018 in Boston and reflecting on recent trends, it is clear that the US energy storage market is shifting toward exploiting new applications and targeting new geographic areas anchored in the development of new policy and regulation.
• SunPower puts its PV pipeline up for sale – Josefin Berg
  On 8 May 2018, during the Q1 earnings call, SunPower announced that it would exit large PV project developments and focus on the growing residential and commercial segments.
• First Solar and Sunpower announce investments in US solar manufacturing – Edurne Zoco
  In April 2018, following the resolution of the “201” trade case, major US solar manufacturers First Solar and Sunpower both made announcements concerning the development of manufacturing in the United States.

There's no escaping the word "blockchain" these days, a buzzword increasingly present in conversations and writer-ups seemingly everywhere. But is the hype justified?

Blockchain is what is known as a distributed digital ledger technology. Using cryptography and timestamps, blockchain provides a permanent record of transactions and interaction. The distributed form through which blockchain records, maintains, and tracks transactions eliminates the need for intermediaries during payment. And secure by design, blockchain data and information is fundamentally resistant to manipulation or modification. In this way, blockchain helps to reduce risk and cut down costs for everyone involved, in a manner that is also protected and permanent.

Blockchain penetration is most evident in the financial services industry, with payments-related solutions as early adopters. However, blockchain also carries significant implications for other vertical industries.

A new and complimentary eBook on blockchain is now available from IHS Markit that provides a comprehensive overview of the technology: how it works, why it could upend traditional ways of doing business, and what its challenges are.

The eBook also examines how blockchain could affect specific vertical industries, including transportation and logistics, identity protection, telecommunications, and semiconductors.

Access the IHS Markit web page now to download the free blockchain eBook

IHS Markit Technology Expert
Posted 13 June 2018

While the flexible AMOLED display market included equal volumes of flat and curved displays in 2017, foldable displays weren't expected to be in mass production until after a few years.

But with flexible displays making rapid inroads into the flagship smartphone display market, panel makers showed increasing willingness to supply differentiated products. Innovative form factors would then help to boost profit margins from the sale of premium products.

Now fast forward to this year, and it appears that the first smartphones with foldable AMOLED displays are expected to be introduced before the end of the year.

Foldable displays can be tightly folded at 180 degrees on top of itself. Samsung Display, which has demonstrated single- and dual-foldable AMOLED displays since 2013, will be mass-producing its first foldable AMOLED displays for Samsung Electronics later this year.

Similarly, China's BOE has developed a prototype of a 7.56-inch 2048x1536-ppi foldable AMOLED display with a 5-millimeter bending radius, which reliably bends 100,000 times without breaking. BOE is looking to supply foldable AMOLED displays to Huawei this year.

Meanwhile, AUO from Taiwan has developed a 5-inch 1280x720-ppi AMOLED display, with a 4-millimeter bi-directional bending radius. The company says it will bend more than 1.5 million times without breaking. It includes an integrated touch sensor and 4H cover film.

At present, smartphone brands are focused on increasing display size and ratio to maximize smartphone usability. The new foldable displays will be used primarily in larger-sized premium mobile devices, with transformable displays that combine the usability of smartphones and tablets. One barrier to consumer adoption, however, could be the higher prices involved because of a more intricate production process.

For their part, smartphone brands and OEMs may also have to contend with the vagaries of an innovative design they're peddling when it comes to stimulating end-user purchase and replacement.

The most possible scenario is a big-screen foldable portable device to replace tablet PCs and notebook PCs while still carrying the phone function. Numerous PC makers are already drafting ideas on the drawing board for a foldable clamshell but a switchable device, with one piece of the flexible OLED panel to enlarge the mechanism performed in the screen, such as a virtual keyboard, long-portrait document viewing, and multiple-windows website browsing.

There are many different form factors for foldable displays, designated by terms such as in-folding, out-folding, two-dimensional folding with a G or Z shape, and so on. The chart shows our forecast for flexible OLED shipments forecast by form factor, analyzed in the IHS Markit AMOLED & Flexible Display Intelligence Service.

David Hsieh is Research & Analysis Director within the IHS Technology Group at IHS Markit
Posted 20 June 2018

As smart functionality makes its way progressively into homes and businesses, two devices are working to gain a foothold into broader ecosystems to maximize growth and revenue opportunities.

In two newly published e-books, IHS Markit provides a comprehensive overview of the smart speaker and the smart meter, two devices on the rise forecast to enjoy massive growth in the years ahead, even as each field faces growing commoditization and narrowing margins.

Smart speakers: interaction gateways

For smart speakers, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and voice-activated digital assistants has made the devices enormously popular with consumers. Through normal, ordinary human speech, consumers can offload tasks to the smart speaker, ranging from media playback ("Play songs from my playlist"), to smart home control ("Turn off the lights"), to informational queries ("What's the news today?").

In this sense, smart speakers function as interaction gateways, with offloading then helping to expand AI field capabilities in assisting and learning, as shown in the diagram below.

Amazon's Echo and its Alexa digital assistant currently leads the smart speaker field with first-to-market advantage, although Google's Home device and its accompanying Assistant is making huge inroads.

Smart speakers can take advantage of their current popularity and become even more powerful by leveraging established ecosystems and by extending app development to support more consumer devices and platforms, according to the e-book.

Smart meters: revolutionizing interaction

Like smart speakers, smart meters act as a bridge for interaction. In this case, however, smart meters help to more closely link utilities and their customers.

While basic meters can only address the question of power usage and not do much else, smart meters dramatically expand the capabilities of the meter by providing better quality data, usage analysis, time-of-use rates, and more, according to the eBook. And because smart meters are capable of two-way communication, they create a powerful impetus for customer interaction, rather than being just a conduit for customers to air complaints when there is a problem.

Smart meters will be increasingly critical, being the ideal entry point into utility ecosystems aiming to create more intelligent, efficient, and cleaner electricity networks. Moreover, smart meters form the backbone of the data collection system for utilities. Meter data, once collected, can pave the way for entirely new categories of value-added revenue for vendors.

Two comprehensive e-books

The IHS Markit e-books on the smart speaker and the smart meter show the extensive breadth and depth of our research on IoT devices and components across the complete technology ecosystem.

In smart speakers, for instance, a section on materials and components breaks down each piece of technology being used, including MEMS microphones and the built-in touch display. In smart meters, the section on end-markets tracks how the devices affect specific parts of the supply chain, including hardware and cellular IoT technologies.

Access the IHS Markit web page now to download the free smart speaker and smart meter e-books.

IHS Markit Technology Expert
Posted 27 June 2018

Games will continue to be the most lucrative mobile content category for the foreseeable future, dominating consumer spending on mobile app stores, even though its total share of market will decline slightly during the next four years, IHS Markit research and data show.

Of the $109 billion in worldwide consumer mobile spending projected by IHS Markit for 2022, games will account for a massive 75% share, worth some $83 billion. And while that represents a slight decline from the 80% share games commanded last year, the category retains its preeminence as the leading generator of mobile content revenue and spending, an honor it has enjoyed dating to the pre-app store era of the early and mid-2000s.

A key factor in the projected decline of the games category in the next few years is the rising adoption of in-app subscriptions from other categories, notably on-demand music and video, as well as dating apps. Even so, the games category will continue to grow, especially in the still-growing Chinese market and in rapidly expanding Southeast Asia. In comparison, growth will be more modest in North America, Europe, Japan, and South Korea as smartphone penetration reaches saturation and as the mobile games market matures.

Among regions, Asia Pacific will represent the biggest share of global mobile app spending, with 64% of the worldwide total by 2022. Japan will remain the world's top spender per capita, generating $120 per person in mobile app expenditure.

In app stores, Apple will maintain a clear lead even by 2022, although Google has been working to narrow its revenue gap with the market leader. Apple's increased focus on driving in-app subscriptions through its app-store billing will be a major driver of its ongoing dominance in the global mobile apps space. In key markets, Apple will continue to enjoy high-value monthly subscription content, growing the average revenue per account.

In China, where the Apple App Store is present but where Google Play is absent, Tencent is the top mobile games purveyor, with revenue in 2017 exceeding $9 billion, IHS Markit data show.

For more details, see the latest IHS Markit report on this subject, Mobile apps and games outlook: 2018, part of our Games Intelligence Service and Consumer Platforms & Ecosystems Intelligence Service.

Jack Kent is Director, Operators & Mobile Media, at the IHS Technology Group within IHS Markit.

Posted 11 July 2018

The display industry is currently undergoing the most significant manufacturing and display technology changes since flat-panel display (FPD) production became widespread in the 1990s. A key change is the integration of key components into panels, which paves the way for advances in display form factors and performance.

For much of FPD history, amorphous silicon (a‑Si)-based LCD cells utilizing 3.5-micron (µm) line-and-space (L/S) photolithography were the means in assembling discrete components-such as backlights, driver ICs, circuit boards, connectors, and polarizers-into completed display modules, which were then sold to panel makers.

This manufacturing and business model evolved, accelerating around 2010 because of various reasons. Among them were the rapid growth of smartphones, the commercialization of AMOLED displays, the rise in demand for better image quality, and the intensifying competition among panel makers. In turn, smartphones drove the expansion of the display panel business to IT and TV applications.

Today, a slightly different set of forces in manufacturing technology is at work in advancing and driving change in the FPD market. These include:

• Improved photolithography to 1.5 µm L/S
• High-efficacy and long-lifetime AMOLED materials
• Innovative equipment and processes
• High-mobility oxide and low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) semiconductors
• New materials, such as quantum dots (QD) and high-temperature-resistant polyimide.

With these new enabling forces, abundant leaps in production technology have become possible, giving rise to remarkable results that now benefit consumers: for instance, incredibly thin, light, and borderless full-screen displays; rigid and flexible AMOLEDs alike tailored for specific applications; resolutions of 500-600 ppi that are now commonplace; and features like DCI-P3 wide color gamut and very high contrast.

Many more new production technologies and display applications are in development, including those that will extend form factor and performance benefits. Many also relate to facilitating foldable displays, and will continue the shift from transmissive to emissive AMOLEDs or photo-emissive and electroluminescent QDs. Other advances have to do with integrating into the display panel discrete components, such as the color filter, cover lens, drivers, light source, polarizer, and touch sensor.

Component integration, therefore, is not new, singular, or complete, but is closely linked to important display manufacturing advances. Most notably, these advances include a reduction in the critical dimension of the large-area photolithography to achieve high resolution, as well as semiconductor technology advances in oxide, LTPS TFT, AMOLED and QD.

These findings and other details can be found in the current IHS Markit AMOLED and LCD Supply Demand & Equipment Tracker.

Benefits of component integration

Component integration is part of the shift in how FPDs are now manufactured and used. Depending on the type of display, the technologies that are related and the application involved, the amount of integration called for will vary. Discrete components, however, will likely remain part of the display module always.

Component integration delivers two primary benefits:

• Enhanced form factors, such as narrow borders, reduced thickness and weight, and conformable displays
• Improved optical performance, such as wider color gamut, increased brightness and contrast, reduced response time, and enhanced viewing angles

The following table illustrates current component-to-panel integration trends, benefits, and development status. It also shows components being integrated into LCD and AMOLED panels for mobile, IT, and TV applications.

As illustrated, touch sensor and polarizer integration can improve transmission and brightness, but most of the benefits in optical performance relate to enhancing the performance of color filters, through the use of quantum dots or via the larger trend of replacing LCD color filters and backlights with AMOLED (and potentially QD) emitters.

Nonetheless, LCD technology remains a solid and reliable technology, having improved dramatically in the last 20 years. And with a considerable cost advantage over OLED, LCD is unlikely to disappear soon.

Self-emissive display technologies, do possess, however, a fundamental optical performance advantage. This advantage will help drive total AMOLED areal panel demand at a 24% compound annual growth rate between 2017 and 2024, as we predicted in the OLED Display Market Tracker. In comparison, LCD areal demand is forecast to grow on average at 4% per year over the same period.

Driver integration, along with many other design and component innovations, has facilitated borderless, thinner, and non-conventionally shaped LCD modules. Even so, AMOLED allows and benefits most from component integration. This is true for both image quality and form factor. Many very thin, light, and even curved AMOLED-based devices have already been commercialized.

Fewer layers in the display stack and no backlights enable the production of flexible AMOLED. Increasing flexibility and the ability to roll and fold displays are well into development, with first products forecast to reach the market in 2018.

For foldable displays, component integration to reduce panel thickness and layers is critical to minimize bending radius and to prevent display failure from defects and delamination. Thicker displays are more difficult to fold and more likely to generate creasing defects.

The more layers used in the display stack, the more challenging it is to keep them laminated together when folding. For this reason, and to realize the goal of truly foldable displays, panel makers continue to push component integration, targeting less than 0.5 mm total thickness with 1.0 mm bending radius within the next few years, shown below, and as we reported in the AMOLED & Flexible Display Intelligence Service .

Fully flexible displays can potentially enable new applications, such as foldable, wearable, advanced automotive, and wallpaper-like FPDs. Such new applications are of great interest to both the display industry and consumers because they can expand the display market and multiply the ways people interact with information.

Since integration transfers third-party component production to panel fabrication, it tends to complicate manufacturing processes. In many cases, this will increase capital costs and make building new FPD factories more expensive. Regardless, the decrease in the number of discrete components can reduce total display cost, with the important caveat that high yield rates are maintained.

As integration increases, it shifts more value from components into the panel. This creates an opportunity for panel makers with leading-edge component integration technology and robust manufacturing processes to differentiate products and increase profitability.

As we reported in the IHS Markit Display Materials & Components category of the Displays research service, the FPD industry is undergoing unprecedented change that includes the rapid increase in display resolution, the proliferation of semiconductor technologies, a shift from transmissive to emissive displays, and from fixed-form, rigid displays to flexible, conformable, and foldable displays. Many of these advances are enabled by integrating discrete components into the panel to improve optical performance or form factor.

Integration is particularly important for enabling highly flexible and foldable FPDs. In turn, foldable is considered one of the most important developments in the display industry, as it can widen the application scope, increase average sizes of displays used in mobile applications, and create new ways for consumers to interact with information. Many integration-related technologies are proprietary and difficult to implement. Technical challenges related to integration can increase risk, but integration offers panel makers and their enabling suppliers a chance to increase competitiveness and differentiate their products.

David Hsieh is Research & Analysis Director within the IHS Technology Group at IHS Markit
Posted 18 July 2018

Complimentary Content

Transformative Technologies

• ARM buys Stream to provide integrated device and connectivity management offering for IoT market – Sam Lucero
  ARM has acquired Stream Technologies and will add the company to its IoT Service Group to extend the Mbed Device Management Platform with connectivity services/service management capabilities.
• IOT World 2018 showcases the expanding universe that is the internet of Things – Matt Short
  Technology fundamentals are becoming pervasive, but it is still baby steps. However, there are three key areas where it was encouraging to see significant progress from the industry.
• Smart Home Companies Diversifying – Blake Kozak
  In the most recent competitor database, smart home companies were analyzed across several factors, including the number of connected consumer devices by segment, smart speaker compatibility, company size, and platform.

Building, Home & City Technology

• Siemens expands its smart buildings presence through its acquisition of Building Robotics – Bryan Montany
  In its third smart buildings acquisition this year, Siemens Building Technologies Division announced its intention to acquire Building Robotics Inc., a vendor responsible for the smart workplace application, Comfy.
• Fire detection and suppression equipment market to reach $179 million globally in 2022 – Robert Brooks
  As data center construction continues to mount owing to increasing demand from the Internet of Things, data center architecture is evolving.
• Amazon solidifies its smart speaker portfolio with Alexa for Hospitality – Bryan Montany
  Amazon on 19 June announced Alexa for Hospitality, a new version of its Alexa voice assistant, tailored and optimized to support unique interactions with hotel guests.
• Voice-operated alarm systems expected to grow at a 7 percent CAGR through 2022 – Anna Sliwon
  Home assistants developed by Amazon, Google, and others are changing how consumers interact with connected home devices, including intruder alarms.

Displays

• <span/>First foldable AMOLED smartphone displays expected to hit market this year – Jerry Kang
  Foldable active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) smartphone displays are expected to debut in 2018, as consumer demand grows for large-screen smartphones.

Enterprise & IT

• Ethernet switching market surges 12% year over year, fueled by data center and campus upgrades – Matthias Machowinski
  Ethernet switch revenue declined 10% sequentially in Q1 2018 due to a seasonal slowdown in demand, but the longer-term growth outlook remains positive and strengthened further during the quarter.
• ARM buys Stream to provide integrated device and connectivity management offering for IoT market – Sam Lucero
  ARM has acquired Stream Technologies and will add the company to its IoT Service Group to extend the Mbed Device Management Platform with connectivity services/service management capabilities.
• Data center and enterprise LAN SDN market reach $4.4 billion in 2017; VMware and Cisco are leaders – Clifford Grossner, Josh Bancroft
  Global data center and enterprise LAN software-defined networking (SDN) market revenue—including SDN-in-use bare metal and branded Ethernet switches and SDN controllers—is anticipated to reach $15.8 billion by 2022.
• Richer server configurations in Q1 2018 led to a 32% year-over-year rise in data center server revenue – Clifford Grossner, Vladimir Galabov
  Richer server configurations, supported by new compute and memory-intensive workloads, led to a 32% year-over-year increase in data center server revenue, which hit $17.9 billion in Q1 2018.
• IOT World 2018 showcases the expanding universe that is the internet of Things – Matt Short
  Technology fundamentals are becoming pervasive, but it is still baby steps. However, there are three key areas where it was encouraging to see significant progress from the industry.

Healthcare Technology

• Artificial intelligence, handheld systems, and end-user comfort dominating ultrasound equipment design – Holley Lewis
  Three trends have dominated ultrasound product launches of the past year: artificial intelligence capabilities, handheld systems, and designing for the end-user’s comfort.

Manufacturing Technology

• China’s machinery production market set to grow 7.9% in 2018 – Teik Chuan Goh
  China's machinery production is growing at a slightly slower rate in 2018 than in 2017, but the industry is exhibiting strong growth of 7.9%.
• IoT innovation becoming key driver of the embedded computing market – Brian Arbuckle
  Global revenue in the embedded computing market contracted 3.1% year over year, falling to $2.5 billion in 2016, owing to the ongoing effects of the collapse of the xTCA telecom market.

Media & Advertising

• Telefonica regains TV rights to La Liga – Tim Westcott
  Telefonica has regained control of most of the rights to Spanish first-division football from the start of the 2019/20 season, with challenger Mediapro losing all residential domestic rights.
• Kinepolis selects laser for start of replacement wave with Cinionic/Barco – Charlotte Jones
  Kinepolis has earmarked the start of its replacement schedule of first-generation digital projectors to laser technology in a deal with Cinionic/Barco for 300 laser systems during the next three years.
• Cineworld makes major commitment to panoramic ScreenX format – Charlotte Jones
  Cineworld, the second-largest global exhibitor by screen count, has made a significant commitment to the novel ScreenX format from Korean technology brand CJ 4Dplex.
• Vietnam to tighten control on online media – Kia Ling Teoh
  In June 2018, the Vietnamese government passed a cyber security law that will see the country tighten its control on online media companies operating in the market.
• Sky and Perform win rights for Serie A for next three seasons – Matteo Marchello
  After more than a year, Italy’s Lega Calcio Serie A has awarded domestic rights to the country’s top football championship for the next three seasons, with Perform Group entering the market for the first time alongside incumbent Sky.
• Amazon and BT buy remaining Premier League packages – Tim Westcott
  Continuing its move into live streaming sport, Amazon has acquired a package of rights to the Premier League in the UK from 2019 to 2022.
• Local players struggle as Netflix leads Dutch subscription market – Max Signorelli
  Dutch telco KPN is to close its over-the-top service KPN Play on 2 July. Another local on demand venture, Knippr from T-Mobile, closed officially on 1 June.
• Samsung targets India as major territory for growth of Cinema LED – Charlotte Jones
  PVR cinemas and INOX, the two leading multiplex circuits in India, have both agreed to install the potentially disruptive Cinema LED display technology branded as ONYX from Samsung later in 2018.

Mobile & Telecom

• Ethernet switching market surges 12% year over year, fueled by data center and campus upgrades – Matthias Machowinski
  Ethernet switch revenue declined 10% sequentially in Q1 2018 due to a seasonal slowdown in demand, but the longer-term growth outlook remains positive and strengthened further during the quarter.
• Wyplay embraces Android Operator Tier – Merrick Kingston
  Wyplay has become the latest set-top middleware and UX vendor to embrace the Android TV platform and to market a custom launcher for Android TV’s Operator Tier.
• Comcast outbids Disney for Fox, as court clears way for AT&T takeover of Time Warner – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Comcast has made an offer for the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox, outbidding the Walt Disney Company by around 19%.
• ARM buys Stream to provide integrated device and connectivity management offering for IoT market – Sam Lucero
  ARM has acquired Stream Technologies and will add the company to its IoT Service Group to extend the Mbed Device Management Platform with connectivity services/service management capabilities.
• It’s hard to get rid of those good old DMS switches! – Stéphane Téral
  That’s the key takeaway from Ribbon Perspectives 18’s Network Transformation panel held on 5 June in Los Angeles. With more than 600 attendees and loud L.A.-style music blasting before, between, and after sessions, the event keeps growing.
• Data center and enterprise LAN SDN market reach $4.4 billion in 2017; VMware and Cisco are leaders – Clifford Grossner, Josh Bancroft
  Global data center and enterprise LAN software-defined networking (SDN) market revenue—including SDN-in-use bare metal and branded Ethernet switches and SDN controllers—is anticipated to reach $15.8 billion by 2022.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• Amazon Fire TV Cube: The latest in the wave of TV-connected smart speakers – Paul Erickson
  Amazon announced its newest member of the Echo smart speaker line on 7 June, the Fire TV Cube.
• Sonos' new Beam soundbar: a glimpse into the full voice-controlled TV experience – Pau Erickson
  Sonos in June launched its new $399 Beam soundbar, a combination Sonos connected speaker, assistant-agnostic smart speaker, and home theater soundbar.
• Smart Home Companies Diversifying – Blake Kozak
  In the most recent competitor database, smart home companies were analyzed across several factors, including the number of connected consumer devices by segment, smart speaker compatibility, company size, and platform.

Power & Energy Technology

• Power semiconductor market remains buoyant: Highlights from PCIM Europe 2018 – Richard Eden
  The following insight from IHS Markit details key themes and takeaways from the PCIM Europe 2018 trade show and conference, held in Nuremberg, Germany, earlier this month.
• China’s solar policy change triggers another cycle of price pressure and industry consolidation – Edurne Zoco
  Although photovoltaic (PV) industry fundamentals remain solid, recent solar industry policy changes in China will lead to overproduction, price declines, and market consolidation.

Security Technology

• Fire detection and suppression equipment market to reach $179 million globally in 2022 – Robert Brooks As data center construction continues to mount owing to increasing demand from the Internet of Things, data center architecture is evolving.
• Amazon solidifies its smart speaker portfolio with Alexa for Hospitality – Bryan Montany
  Amazon on 19 June announced Alexa for Hospitality, a new version of its Alexa voice assistant, tailored and optimized to support unique interactions with hotel guests.
• Voice-operated alarm systems expected to grow at a 7 percent CAGR through 2022 – Anna Sliwon
  Home assistants developed by Amazon, Google, and others are changing how consumers interact with connected home devices, including intruder alarms.

Semiconductors

• US-China tariff dispute will spill into semiconductors and consumer electronics – Myson Robles-Bruce
  For the semiconductor space, the escalating tariffs dispute between the United States and China will be a bruising zero-sum game injurious to both sides in which there are no winners.
• Power semiconductor market remains buoyant: Highlights from PCIM Europe 2018 – Richard Eden
  The following insight from IHS Markit details key themes and takeaways from the PCIM Europe 2018 trade show and conference, held in Nuremberg, Germany, earlier this month.

Subscriber Content

Displays

• Foxconn breaks ground in Wisconsin – Paul Gagnon
  Foxconn hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on 28 June for its Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park, showcasing the level of investment in both manufacturing technology and local community development. This presentation offers an analysis of the event.
• Global demand for automotive display systems expected to continue strong growth in 2018 – Hiroshi Hayase
  Both revenues and shipments of automotive display systems are forecast to see double-digit growth this year.
• Head-mounted display for VR headsets to grow sharply in H2 2018 due to discounts – Hiroshi Hayase
  Low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCD is challenging AMOLED to increase shipments for the virtual reality market.
• IT displays at Computex 2018 – Jason Hsu
  At Computex 2018 in Taipei, industry giants, including software and chip makers, promoted the next wave of innovations.
• Will panel prices stop declining in Q3? – Nick Jiang
  Panel makers are aggressively clearing inventory, and panel prices were near cost in May—a sign that the market will soon become more active.
• Foxconn and Innolux acquire 3.1% and 4.1% share in Vizio – Deborah Yang
  In late June, Foxconn and Innolux each separately announced new investments in Vizio of 3.1% and 4.1% share, respectively, adding to their previous holdings and in the process gaining control of Vizio with a combined 15% stake.
• Virtual reality display trends and shipment forecast – Brian Huh
  Panel makers are focusing on higher-ppi virtual reality displays. AMOLED is the mainstream technology in use, but TFT LCD is becoming an affordable alternative.
• Displays at CES Asia 2018 – Ricky Park, Brian Huh, Kimi Lin
  Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia is the premier event for the consumer technology industry, showcasing the full breadth and depth of the innovation value chain in the Asian marketplace.
• Displays at SID Display Week 2018 – Stacy Wu
  Exhibitors at SID Display Weeks showed foldable, transparent, and mini/micro-LED displays.
• Demand is not bad, but oversupply continues – Ricky Park
  Gen 10.5 capacity will increase by 54 million to 67 million sq. m. during the next four years, so TV set makers are hesitant to stock inventory, expecting lower prices.
• Japanese panel makers dynamic update – Linda Lin
  JDI hopes to get the Apple Watch OLED business, and Foxconn needs a successful Chinese online shopping festival in June to reduce inventory problems.
• CSOT announces T7 – Chase Li
  China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) announced in May its plan to build a second Gen 10.5/11 fab.
• Making borders seem slimmer – Joy Guo
  Smartphone displays continue to enhance the ratio of active display area to set area. With the introduction of the notch design, OEMs and display makers must determine how to make the bottom border seem slimmer.
• Price of silicon-based fingerprint sensors falling rapidly – Kimi Lin
  The average selling price (ASP) of traditional silicon-based fingerprint sensor will be below $2.2 in H2 2018.
• Smartphone display delivery issues through 2018 – Joy Guo
  Smartphone display panel capacity is in oversupply, but module capacity will be tight from Q2 2018, with a shortage to continue through 2018 owing to capacity bottlenecks.
• Integration of key components into panels – Charles Annis
  Technology advances are adding value and increasing the performance of flat-panel displays.
• Trend toward affordable interactive white boards – Calvin Hsieh
  The interactive white board (IWB) is an emerging application for commercial and educational use. New capacity and touch technology may help drive demand.
• Automotive display industry trends: Beijing Auto China – Stacy Wu
  Connected cars and new energy vehicles (NEV) are reshaping the auto display industry.
• Flat panel demand to grow 6% in 2018 – Ricky Park
  The forecast for panel area demand this year is approximately 211 million sq. m., with Gen 10.5 fabs producing larger TV panels but lower refresh rates for smartphones.
• LG Display’s fab restructuring status and outlook – Alex Kang
  LG Display is trying to give a soft landing to its new business model by aggressively investing in OLED TV panel fabs and maintaining its LCD business profitability.

Enterprise & IT

• OpenStack Summit 2018: Clouds, containers, and computing take center stage – Devan Adams
  The OpenStack Summit was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from 21 to 24 May 2018, with roughly 2,600 people attending this year’s event.
• Recent enhancements to IoT Devices & Connectivity Intelligence Service – Julian Watson
  Based on customer feedback, we have recently added 5G, cellular LPWAN, and non-cellular LPWAN to the IoT Devices & Connectivity Market Tracker.
• It’s hard to get rid of those good old DMS switches! – Stéphane Téral
  That’s the key takeaway from Ribbon Perspectives 18’s Network Transformation panel held on 5 June in Los Angeles. With more than 600 attendees and loud L.A.-style music blasting before, between, and after sessions, the event keeps growing.

Media & Advertising

• Wyplay embraces Android Operator Tier – Merrick Kingston
  Wyplay has become the latest set-top middleware and UX vendor to embrace the Android TV platform and to market a custom launcher for Android TV’s Operator Tier.
• Netflix to add Minecraft: Story Mode to its emerging interactive-content category – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Netflix has announced that it will release a version of Telltale Games’ Minecraft: Story Mode for its video-streaming platform later this year.
• Comcast outbids Disney for Fox, as court clears way for AT&T takeover of Time Warner – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Comcast has made an offer for the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox, outbidding the Walt Disney Company by around 19%.
• Valve partners Perfect World to bring Steam to China – Chenyu Cui
  Perfect World announced that it is working on “Steam China,” which indicates an upcoming official launch of the platform in China.
• UK approves potential Fox, Comcast bids for Sky – Tim Westcott
  The UK government will allow 21st Century Fox to go through with its bid to acquire the 61% of the company it does not own, on condition that it sells Sky News.

Mobile & Telecom

• Wyplay embraces Android Operator Tier – Merrick Kingston
  Wyplay has become the latest set-top middleware and UX vendor to embrace the Android TV platform and to market a custom launcher for Android TV’s Operator Tier.
• Comcast outbids Disney for Fox, as court clears way for AT&T takeover of Time Warner – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Comcast has made an offer for the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox, outbidding the Walt Disney Company by around 19%.
• It’s hard to get rid of those good old DMS switches! – Stéphane Téral
  That’s the key takeaway from Ribbon Perspectives 18’s Network Transformation panel held on 5 June in Los Angeles. With more than 600 attendees and loud L.A.-style music blasting before, between, and after sessions, the event keeps growing.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• Foxconn Wisconsin groundbreaking ceremony – Paul Gagnon
  On 28 June, Foxconn was joined by senior US government officials, including President Trump, in breaking ground officially at the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. IHS Markit was invited to attend, and a summary of the event is presented in the attached.
• Analysis of China 6/18 TV sales event – Bing Zhang, Hisazaku Torii
  In China, traditional selling holidays are giving way to manufacturer "shopping holidays," and the 6/18 event is the largest in the first half of the year.
• Wyplay embraces Android Operator Tier – Merrick Kingston
  Wyplay has become the latest set-top middleware and UX vendor to embrace the Android TV platform and to market a custom launcher for Android TV’s Operator Tier.
• TV sets excluded from China tariffs – Hisazaku Torii, Paul Gagnon
  On 15 June, the US Office of the Trade Representative released the final document indicating which of the more than 1,300 products were to be included in tariffs against Chinese imports.

Power & Energy Technology

• Key takeaways from EES Europe 2018 – Sam Wilkinson, Julian Jansen
  The IHS Markit analyst team attended SmarterE 2018 in Munich featuring EES Europe, which continues to grow, reflecting the positive development across the global and European energy storage market.
• Key takeaways from Intersolar Munich 2018 – Sam Wilkinson, Josefin Berg, Cormac Gilligan, Edurne Zoco
  Intersolar Munich is the leading event in Germany for renewable energy and energy storage. The scale of the event provides a crucial overview of the respective industries and the current market status in Germany and globally.
• Nevada accelerates utility-scale solar plus storage in the United States – Camron Barati, Julian Jansen
  On 31 May 2018, electric utility Nevada Energy announced plans to offer six contracts for solar PV projects for a total 1 GWac.
• China PV market update - impact of recent changes – Josefin Berg, Holly Hu
  On 31 May 2018, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Finance (MOF), and National Energy Administration (NEA) published a notice with the aim to curb escalating feed-in tariff payments by restricting the amount of new PV installations under national subsidy schemes.
• China cuts support for solar PV and sends supply chain into oversupply in H2 2018 – Sam Wilkinson, Josefin Berg, Holly Hu
  On 31 May 2018, immediately following the SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Finance (MOF), and National Energy Administration (NEA) jointly published the “2018 Solar PV Generation Notice.”

Semiconductors

• Executive summary of forecast changes - Q2 2018 – Myson Robles-Bruce
  This is a brief executive summary of AMFT forecast changes produced exclusively for current subscribers.
• Q1 2018 Competitive Landscape Tool (CLT) quarterly updates – Ron Ellwanger
  This insight contains changes to the Quarterly CLT published 28 May 2018.
• Q1 2018 Competitive Landscape Tool (CLT) regional updates – Ron Ellwanger
  This insight contains changes to the Regional CLT that was originally published in March 2018.
• Q1 2018 Competitive Landscape Tool (CLT) annual updates – Ron Ellwanger
  This insight contains changes to the Annual CLT that was originally published in March 2018.

Two recent IHS Markit Technology reports show a rapidly evolving global manufacturing landscape, driven by new technological forces and innovation. The first report dissects the current state of the global industrial automation equipment (IAE) market, while the second report examines the increasing importance of service robots for the worldwide electric motors market.

In the first report, Industrial Automation Equipment (IAE) Market Tracker Q1 2018, analyst Nitin Sharma projects global IAE revenue to reach more than $209 billion this year, up 4% from 2017. Machines, he says, are becoming more automated, with several factors fueling growth of the IAE market, including rising industrial production and a stronger global economy.

The report also points out that some companies this year will close their doors to new proof-of-concept smart manufacturing projects-that is, until existing and ongoing projects are completed or show a return on investment.

In the second report, Electric Motors in Service Robots Report - 2018, analyst Joanne Goh maps out the terrain now being occupied by both professional and domestic service robots. Robots, she posits, present a greenfield opportunity in the electric motors space, with potential to hit the $1 billion mark by 2022, more than double the $438 million that the market collected in 2017.

In the case of professional service robots, the sector is growing worldwide thanks to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Meanwhile, social domestic robots-a group within the domestic service robot category-will be the fastest-growing sector in all or any of the robot markets, with their multiple functionalities to communicate, entertain, educate, monitor, and even perform household chores.

The two reports are part of the Manufacturing Technology research service at IHS Markit-Technology, covering industrial markets, vendors, technology advancements, systems, and equipment. The categories in the service include Capital Equipment & Machinery, Discrete Process & Automation, and Electric Motor Systems.

By IHS Markit Technology Expert

Posted 25 July 2018

Complimentary Content

Automotive Technology

• Qualcomm calls off bid to acquire NXP Semiconductors: a setback…for now – Phil Amsrud
  American chip manufacturer Qualcomm abandoned its $44 billion bid to acquire Dutch firm NXP Semiconductors. The attempted merger failed when no official ruling was handed down by regulators in China, where both firms do substantial business.
• EMCC event tackles multi-core processing for autonomous vehicles of the future – Antonio Garzon
  Experts from the automotive software and hardware industry met last month in a technical gathering to discuss the latest trends and developments in multi-core processing architecture for automated driving and the car of the future.
• Magnetic sensors refresh in new automotive economy – Richard Dixon, Ph.D.
  With the electronics architectural landscape for vehicles changing dramatically in the next 15 years, automotive sensors are also undergoing their own evolution in response to new requirements on performance, safety, Big Data analysis, robustness, security, and economy.

Building, Home & City Technology

• Monthly LED lamp retail price stabilizes at $12.81 in June – Paul Bremner
  Global LED lamp retail prices in June were 0.7% higher than in May 2018. Despite this slight increase, the trend line for global ASPs continues downwards, with prices declining at a 16.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the six-year period from June 2012 to June 2018.

Enterprise & IT

• AI’s role in boosting Wi-Fi performance and enabling new revenue streams – Julian Watson, Yogita Kanesin
  In this insight, we discuss how companies such as Aerial Technologies, Mist Systems, Mojo Networks, and Quantenna Communications are adding intelligence to W-Fi hardware and software to drive improvements in customer experience.
• Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X): still in its infancy yet very promising – Christian Kim
  New research from IHS Markit provides a snapshot of the current V2X market and brief summaries of two V2X standards—Cellular V2X (C-V2X), and Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC).
• Defending the data, securing the IoT comes into focus at IoT World 2018 – Tanner Johnson
  When it comes to the IoT, many organizations have a "connect first, secure second" mentality. The IoT World 2018 conference showcased many solutions to address this fundamentally flawed practice.
• The IoT grabs a foothold at RSA 2018 – Tanner Johnson
  Although seemingly overshadowed by discussions and focus surrounding AI and machine learning, cybersecurity for the IoT established a substantive presence at the conference.
• Monthly LED lamp retail price stabilizes at $12.81 in June – Paul Bremner
  Global LED lamp retail prices in June were 0.7% higher than in May 2018. Despite this slight increase, the trend line for global ASPs continues downwards, with prices declining at a 16.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the six-year period from June 2012 to June 2018.

Healthcare Technology

• The UKRCO conference: a microcosm of healthcare in the UK? – Bhvita Jani
  The UKRCO could be considered the perfect platform and opportunity for medical imaging providers to showcase their transformative technologies.

Manufacturing Technology

• Japanese automation suppliers post strong financial results for 2017 – Daisuke Muto
  Japanese automation supplier performance was strong in 2017 and is forecast to remain the same in 2018. Results of fiscal year 2017 for industrial automation suppliers in Japan were good overall.
• Global industrial automation equipment market will post $209.8 billion revenue in 2018 – Nitin Sharma
  The global industrial automation equipment (IAE) market was estimated at $202.2 billion in 2017, and is projected to grow 3.8% in 2018 to $209.8 billion.
• Asia Pacific takes lead in driving growth of global motion control hardware market – Preston Reine
  The global motion control hardware market achieved record-high revenue growth of 19% from 2016 to 2017, with revenue this year reaching $13.4 billion.
• How are motor manufacturers differentiating in a mature market? – Ivan Campos
  Many developments are taking place in the industrial motor market as suppliers more actively pursue merger-and-acquisition opportunities and seek new ways to differentiate their value-add.
• New technologies drive replacement market for low-voltage-motor control centers (LV MCCs) – Brian Arbuckle
  The LV MCC market was worth $3.08 billion in 2016, up 2.2% Y/Y. Growth was most pronounced in EMEA and Asia Pacific, while the Americas market shrank.
• Service Robots - A Greenfield Opportunity for Electric Motor Manufacturers – Joanne Goh
  Robotics and automation technologies, available in the industrial sector for decades, are now integrating into the daily lives of consumers.
• Global market for mounted roller bearings makes strong gains – Sudhakar Chaudhary
  The mounted ball and roller bearings market worldwide grew 8.1% in 2017 to $3.4 billion.

Media & Advertising

• Telefónica Spain increases the value of its retained customer base – Martyn Hannant, Maria Rua Aguete
  Spanish telco Telefónica managed to sustain its pay-TV growth and increase its ARPU in Q2 2018.
• DAZN pacts with Sky and Mediaset as it prepares to launch in Italy – Matteo Marchello
  DAZN, the online subscription sports service owned by the UK's Perform Group, has reached agreement with Italy's two main pay-TV providers, Sky and Mediaset.
• Disney signs multiyear deal with Blizzard to broadcast Overwatch League – Steve Bailey, Matteo Marchello
  US cable channels ESPN and Disney XD are broadcasting the Overwatch League (OWL), billed as the world’s first major esports league, under a multiyear agreement with the Walt Disney Co and Activision-Blizzard.
• Comcast drops bid for Fox to focus on Sky – Tim Westcott
  US cable group Comcast says it will not pursue acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets and will instead concentrate on its bid for Sky, the UK-based pay-TV platform.
• Nexon cancels development of Titanfall OL – Chenyu Cui
  The freemium version of Titanfall was designed exclusively for Asian markets with development handled by Nexon GT, the team responsible for Sudden Attack.
• WeGame's global release illustrates Tencent's strategic ambition in games distribution – Piers Harding-Rolls, Chenyu Cui
  Tencent is building an international version of its PC games distribution platform WeGame, which, for the first time, will put it in direct competition with Valve's Steam platform in markets outside of China.
• Facebook buys rights to Premier League in four Asian markets – Tim Westcott, Matteo Marchello
  In a further move into live sports streaming, Facebook is reported to have bought the rights to Premier League games for three seasons beginning in 2019/20 in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
• Record first half for box office in North America and China – Charlotte Jones
  Total box-office revenue in North America reached $6.18 billion in H1 2018, marking a large 9.6% increase on the same total in 2017.
• African TV and OTT video markets poised for growth, despite challenging environment – Constantinos Papayassilopoulos
  The number of households in the Sub-Saharan African region grew 21.8% between 2010 and 2017, while TV households grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.6% at the same time.

Mobile & Telecom

• Huawei overtakes Apple in Q2 smartphone unit shipments – Gerrit Schneemann
  According to IHS Markit preliminary smartphone data, global smartphone shipments reached 344.6 million units in Q2-18—a 1.8% decline year over year, and down slightly from the previous quarter. Huawei beat Apple, to reach the second-ranked position in global shipments.
• Taking complexity out of LTE radio front-end designs – Wayne Lam, Alina Sargiss
  As the smartphone industry passes its decade-long run being the most popular consumer electronics of all time, the market is beginning to see signs of maturation and slowdown.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• Huawei overtakes Apple in Q2 smartphone unit shipments – Gerrit Schneemann
  According to IHS Markit preliminary smartphone data, global smartphone shipments reached 344.6 million units in Q2-18—a 1.8% decline year over year, and down slightly from the previous quarter. Huawei beat Apple, to reach the second-ranked position in global shipments.
• Taking complexity out of LTE radio front-end designs – Wayne Lam, Alina Sargiss
  As the smartphone industry passes its decade-long run being the most popular consumer electronics of all time, the market is beginning to see signs of maturation and slowdown.

Power & Energy Technology

• Power semiconductor market remains buoyant: Highlights from PCIM Europe 2018 – Richard Eden
  The following insight from IHS Markit details key themes and takeaways from the PCIM Europe 2018 trade show and conference, held in Nuremberg, Germany, earlier this month.
• China’s solar policy change triggers another cycle of price pressure and industry consolidation – Edurne Zoco
  Although photovoltaic (PV) industry fundamentals remain solid, recent solar industry policy changes in China will lead to overproduction, price declines, and market consolidation.

Security Technology

• Growth in global professional video surveillance equipment market accelerated in 2017 – Jon Cropley
  The world market for professional video surveillance equipment grew by 9.3% in 2017.

Semiconductors

• Qualcomm calls off bid to acquire NXP Semiconductors: a setback…for now – Phil Amsrud
  American chip manufacturer Qualcomm abandoned its $44 billion bid to acquire Dutch firm NXP Semiconductors. The attempted merger failed when no official ruling was handed down by regulators in China, where both firms do substantial business.
• Semiconductor design spending to hit historic high and break through $300 billion ceiling – Myson Robles-Bruce
  By the time the year is over, the world’s top industrial and electronics manufacturers will have spent more than $300 billion in semiconductor design, a threshold being crossed for the first time as robust demand continues unabated in the seven major markets where chips are continually used and needed.
• Taking complexity out of LTE radio front-end designs – Wayne Lam, Alina Sargiss
  As the smartphone industry passes its decade-long run being the most popular consumer electronics of all time, the market is beginning to see signs of maturation and slowdown.

Teardowns & Cost Benchmarking

• Taking complexity out of LTE radio front-end designs – Wayne Lam, Alina Sargiss
  As the smartphone industry passes its decade-long run being the most popular consumer electronics of all time, the market is beginning to see signs of maturation and slowdown.

Subscriber Content

Displays

• Automotive monitor touch market trends – Kimi Lin
  The overall automotive touch panel market reached 54.8 million units in 2017, and good growth can be expected.
• Borderless monitor panel sharp growth in 2018 – Peter Su
  Borderless monitors are becoming mainstream with so many units sold in 2018.
• Curved monitor panels trend toward larger sizes in 2018 – Peter Su
  The curved monitor industry expanded to offer larger-than-31.5-inch monitors.
• Gaming monitor panel 144-Hz frame-rate trends in 2018 – Peter Su
  The gaming monitor industry greatly expanded with premium specifications, offering monitor panels in 144 Hz, 165 Hz, and 240 Hz.
• JOLED first to mass produce inkjet AMOLED – Charles Annis
  JOLED moves forward with world’s first inkjet-printed AMOLED panel mass production facility.
• OLED display market in position for great growth – Ricky Park
  OLED demand is forecast to steadily increase in the fourth industrial revolution.
• Smartphone displays rapidly moving to 18:9 and wider screens – Hiroshi Hayase
  All smartphone makers will switch to 18:9-and-wider aspect ratios for 2018 models, much faster than expected.
• Coming oversupply to balance legacy LCD factory shutdown - Charles Annis
  Forecasts point to an unusual and presumably unrealistic oversupply, but the market is more likely to correct itself.
• Large-area panel shipments increase 3% M/M in June – Robin Wu
  Combined, large-area and small/medium TFT LCD panel shipments decreased 4% M/M.
• Large-area TFT LCD panel profit margins become losses in Q2 – Charles Annis
  After average profit margins turn to losses, expect further deterioration through 2018.
• Samsung Display’s AMOLED fab utilization to recover to above 80% in Q3 2018 – Alex Kang
  In Q3 2018, monthly glass input area at Samsung Display’s AMOLED panel fabs will top the previous record high.
• Supply of TDDI chips tight in Q2 – Calvin Hsieh
  Wafer capacity and allocations have become critical to TDDI growth in 2018, with the emerging IoT and automotive applications competing with the display industry to acquire capacity.
• 43-inch market likely to be tight – David Hsieh
  Limited capacity and TV-maker product-mix adjustments might make the 43-inch market tight in the short term.
• AMOLED shipments reach 101M in Q1-18, down 9% Q/Q from 112M in Q4-17 – David Hsieh
  BOE struggles to grow flexible OLEDs, while Visionox continues to grow rigid OLEDs.
• What is driving the surge in demand for public and industrial displays? – Yoonsung Chung
  With China’s new large-area display fabs starting operation, concerns are growing over falling prices and oversupply. To overcome the difficulties, panel makers have started considering public and industrial displays.
• 2018–2021 TFT LCD overcapacity and panel-maker dilemmas – David Hsieh
  From 2018 to 2021, display capacity by area growth rates will be greater than demand by area growth rates, which translates into oversupply.
• LCD TV panel price approaching display manufacturer cash cost – David Hsieh
  Open cell prices for the 32-inch HD, 43-inch FHD, 49-inch UHD, 55-inch UHD, and 65-inch UHD LCD TV are at an all-time low, approaching panel-maker cash cost after 15 months of reduction.
• LCD TV panel prices continue to decrease in June; will they increase in H2 2018? – Yoonsung Chung
  LCD panel prices have been falling since H2 2017. Given that panel prices follow a one-year cycle, they should increase in H2 2018. However, the current supply/demand is different from the previous ones, raising doubts about the cycle.
• Panel makers clear inventory in May, prepare to increase Q3 prices – Nick Jiang
  TV-maker margins are better than last year, especially for the 32- and 50-inch, and they may still have high 32-inch demand.
• Samsung Display’s A2 fab utilization rebounded from Q2 2018 – Brian Huh
  Chinese brands are adopting more rigid AMOLEDs for new smartphones in 2018, allowing the share of shipments in Q2 of Samsung Display’s 6.x inch full-screen displays to post remarkable growth.
• Sharp acquires Toshiba PC business – Linda Lin
  Sharp may not see its PC business revive by acquiring a company with a small market share, but it will gain technological expertise.
• Smartphone large-display market shifts quickly from 5.x to 6.x inch – Brian Huh
  The 6.x-inch display market is growing rapidly, as smartphone brands introduce larger full-screen smartphones.
• 3D cover glass growth momentum in coming years – Kimi Lin
  Total shipments of 3D cover glass reached nearly 151 million units in 2017, and shipments are expected to reach more than 223 million in 2018, up 47.7% Y/Y.
• Large-area panel shipments increase 7% M/M in May – Robin Wu
  Combined, large-area and small/medium TFT LCD panel shipments decreased 3% M/M.

Enterprise & IT

• Industry consolidation continues: Infinera to acquire Coriant – Heidi Adams
  On 23 July 2018, Infinera announced its intent to acquire networking solutions vendor Coriant for $430 million in cash and stock.
• Platforms that drive UCaaS – Diane Myers
  The adoption of UCaaS continue to expand worldwide, but the market remains highly fragmented with a wide range of offerings from a variety of providers.
• Cavium (now Marvell) is the next hope for ARM-based CPUs in the data center – Vladimir Galabov
  With Applied Micro spinning off its server CPU business to newly founded Ampere Computing and with Qualcomm demonstrating no tangible design wins after announcing commercial availability for its Centriq SoC in November 2017, hopes for success of an ARM-based CPU ecosystem moved to Cavium.

Media & Advertising

• IQiyi acquires game developer Skymoons for $190 million – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Chinese online video platform iQiyi has acquired mobile games developer Skymoons for $190 million, including a fixed payment of RMB 1.27 billion as well as a further investment of RMB 730 million, depending on Skymoons performance in the next two years.
• Eleven Sports to launch online in UK and Ireland – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Eleven Sports is launching an online subscription service in the UK and Ireland in partnership with IMG, the UK-based rights and production company.
• Telia to acquire Bonnier Broadcasting in latest Nordics M&A move – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Nordic telecoms operator Telia has announced the acquisition of Bonnier Broadcasting, subject to regulatory approval. Telia has operations in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
• Fox increases offer for full control of Sky – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  21st Century Fox has raised its offer for the 61% of Sky it does not own to £14 a share, valuing the company at £24.5 billion ($32.5 billion).

Mobile & Telecom

• Industry consolidation continues: Infinera to acquire Coriant – Heidi Adams
  On 23 July 2018, Infinera announced its intent to acquire networking solutions vendor Coriant for $430 million in cash and stock.
• Platforms that drive UCaaS – Diane Myers
  The adoption of UCaaS continue to expand worldwide, but the market remains highly fragmented with a wide range of offerings from a variety of providers.
• Despite an onslaught of efforts, vRAN is not ready for prime time – Stephane Teral
  As inquiries about the prospect of potentially virtualizing radio access networks (vRAN) are mounting, this piece analyzes the most recent vRAN developments and explains why there remains substantial work to do before truly achieving the migration from current centralized RAN to cloud RAN architectures.
• Cavium (now Marvell) is the next hope for ARM-based CPUs in the data center – Vladimir Galabov
  With Applied Micro spinning off its server CPU business to newly founded Ampere Computing and with Qualcomm demonstrating no tangible design wins after announcing commercial availability for its Centriq SoC in November 2017, hopes for success of an ARM-based CPU ecosystem moved to Cavium.
• Telia to acquire Bonnier Broadcasting in latest Nordics M&A move – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Nordic telecoms operator Telia has announced the acquisition of Bonnier Broadcasting, subject to regulatory approval. Telia has operations in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
• CBRS update: LTE network, anyone? – Abel Nevarez, Richard Webb
  CBRS—or Citizens Broadband Radio Service—has the potential to help mobile operators, MSOs, and private enterprises offer increased mobile network capacity and connectivity via the use of shared 3.5 GHz spectrum for TD-LTE.

Power & Energy Technology

• Key takeaways from ees North America 2018 – Cormac Gilligan, Camron Barati
  The ees North America show is a growing event co-located with Intersolar North America that focuses on energy storage industries in the United States.
• Key takeaways from Intersolar North America 2018 – Josefin Berg, Cormac Gilligan, Christine Beadle, Camron Barati, Miguel de Jesus, Maria Chea
  Intersolar North America is a leading trade show and conference for the solar and energy storage industries in the United States.
• 10% tariffs proposed for PV inverters and AC modules manufactured in China under Section 301 action – Cormac Gilligan, Miguel de Jesus
  A 10% tariff on Chinese-manufactured PV inverters and AC modules has been proposed by the United States Trade Representative.

Security Technology

• Enabling smarter emergency response through PSAP interoperability – Alexander Richardson
  This white paper and webinar explore drivers for interoperability like FirstNet and NG911, what makes interoperability attractive to agencies, and the various architectural models for organizations of all sizes.

In the convergence between IoT technologies and home security systems, the result has been the emergence of a new class of smarter intruder alarms—mechanisms boasting improved accuracy in detecting intrusion into the home while reducing the chance of false alarms.

At the heart of the automation and enhanced functionality is a process involving machine learning—a popular concept that is so often interchanged, however, with deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI). As a result, the subtle distinction among the three concepts is all but lost, leading to confusion or even overblown expectations as to what these processes can do, in this case, to boost the effectiveness of security systems.

What is—and isn't—AI

Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term for various data analytics processes. As an example, a computer imbued with artificial intelligence will process all inputs through its so-called neural networks and via other statistical methods. Constantly evolving, these networks generate outputs that are adjusted based on variances in the data being fed to the system. The computer then figures out, independently, the appropriate responses to make in relation to the input data—without the need for the user's input.

Machine learning is a subset of AI, and refers to a process that uses statistical techniques to give computers the ability to "learn" with data, without explicitly programming the computer to do so.

Deep learning is a subset, in turn, of machine learning, denoting processes based on deciphering the significance and meaning to be derived, if any, from the input data. The opposite of the deep learning process would be task-specific algorithms that result in causing either action A or B. With deep learning, however, the resulting output from the system will have considered specific features of the input data, paving the way for action that is more accurate as well as proportional to the received data. For instance, if a security camera sees a person walking or behaving differently from others, the system may deem the object to be a threat and then goes on to activate the alarm system within the premises.

The beginnings of AI in home security systems

There are two applications where artificial intelligence is used currently in home-security systems.

The first is in systems integrated with consumer video cameras. Here video cameras use facial recognition functionality to identify whether the moving object is an intruder or a home member. Facial recognition in such a setting represents a basic form of machine learning, where a system analyses detected objects in the video footage against a pre-determined set of previously uploaded and approved images. Based on the results of the analytical process, the system sounds an alarm if the object doesn't match any of the images.

The second application in intruder alarm installations is when the system is integrated with a voice assistant. In this case, skills in the voice assistant have been developed with the use of numerous artificial intelligence methodologies to ensure smooth interaction between the user and the device.

Automated doesn't mean it's AI

Some current functionalities of intruder alarm systems may be confused with artificial intelligence, especially when the former play an important role in automating interactions with both the system and any system-connected smart home devices.

The automatic arming and disarming of a system is a key example. There are two ways this can be set up on an intruder alarm system.

The first involves specifying the time window within which the intruder alarm system will automatically arm, while also stipulating the equivalent time window when the system disarms. This can be done by the installer on behalf of the end-user through a keypad. Alternatively, the end-user can set time windows through an attached mobile phone application. Strictly speaking, what has been described isn't an artificial intelligence process because the time windows are arbitrarily set by the end user or installer, and any changes will require interaction from the user. In contrast, deploying AI to automate the arming and disarming action means no user input is necessary to adjustor set the time windows.

Another way of automating the arming/disarming process is through geofencing. In intruder alarm systems, geofencing uses the current GPS location of the user's phone to identify whether it is present in a designated "detection" area—usually the perimeter around the user's house extended out for a couple of hundred meters. Once the user's phone is sensed as having entered the detection area, the intruder alarm system disarms. If home automation devices are integrated with the intruder alarm system, geofencing can also open the garage door, unlock the front door, and/or turn on the lights in the yard or inside the property.

Potential applications of AI in home security systems are myriad

Although current applications of AI processes in intruder alarm systems remain limited, many potential applications are possible that could give home security systems a much further boost, delivering even higher levels of security and comfort in the house.

In the future, artificial intelligence can lead to the creation of a true smart home capable of learning the ways, habits, and preferences of the occupants of a home, automatically adjusting the settings in its various systems to accommodate both normal patterns and quirks in behaviour.

As more and more intruder alarm systems are integrated with home automation devices, genuine AI capabilities—where the system performs actions independent of the user's input—could create a truly smart and secure home in which security and comfort at home are greatly improved. In contrast, current home automation devices still rely on pre-determined scenarios that the user or installer must set up, following very specific criteria. Any changes to the settings must also be done manually by the system operator.

It could also actively monitor activity in the house and arm the systems at times when home members are out in the garden while the property remains unlocked and unoccupied for prolonged periods of time. If in such a circumstance a child were to run back into the house while the system is armed, the cameras could quickly recognise that it is not an intruder and not sound the alarm.

AI processes could be used by alarm receiving centres to create databases of all incoming alerts, which then could be analysed to predict false alarms. Initial pre-assessment of an incoming alert by the AI software could help the operator respond faster to alerts that are least likely to be false. At the same time, the software and system will be able to detect with near-accurate certainty the shape and form of a false alarm, helping to reduce costs and resources otherwise diverted to deal with false alarms.

Intrusion systems integrated with cameras can also help protect children against kidnappings. Cameras monitoring the area occupied by a child could sound an alarm upon the approach of the kidnapper, while also recording the kidnapper's image and sending it directly to a monitoring centre or to police authorities.

Anna Sliwon is an Analyst for Security Technology within the IHS Technology Group at IHS Markit

Posted 8 August 2018

New reports from RootMetrics, a division of IHS Markit, are now out that examine the mobile performance of networks in both the United States and the United Kingdom during the first six months of 2018. For each country, RootMetrics has issued a three-part complementary series of special reports on how mobile operators' networks fared.

The results from the first half of this year show little change from the previous test period in the second half of 2017. In the United States, Verizon remained the operator with the strongest mobile performance for smartphone users in the country overall, while EE was the winner in the United Kingdom.

For the United States, the three reports cover the following three categories: across the entirety of the country, within each of the 50 US states, and throughout the 125 most populated US metropolitan markets.

For the United Kingdom, three reports are also available, covering mobile network performance in the following three categories: across the entire country; in each of the four UK nations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland; and throughout the country's 16 most populous metropolitan markets.

Taken together, the three reports provide a complete view of mobile performance for smartphone users in the various spaces where consumers utilize their devices-from cities and towns of all sizes, to highways, rural areas, and all the places in between. Nearly 4 million tests were conducted in the United States during the test period. In the United Kingdom, more than 593,000 samples were collected.

US results: Verizon wins for the 10th straight time

In the United States, Verizon's performance on the national stage remained outstanding across all six test categories, and the carrier had far stronger results than those of any other carrier. Verizon has now won the US Overall RootScore Award for 10 consecutive test periods, each period conducted in six-month intervals. Offering strong competition in second place was AT&T, followed by T-Mobile in third place and Sprint in fourth.
Mobile performance in the US part 1: performance across the entire US - 1H 2018

Verizon also repeated its dominance on the state level, winning or sharing 259 State RootScore Awards out of 300 possible opportunities in the first half of 2018.
Mobile performance in the US part 2: performance across the 50 states - 1H 2018

Finally, in US metro areas, Verizon won by far the most RootScore Awards of any carrier. T-Mobile, however, pulled a surprise by surpassing AT&T in terms of Metro Area RootScore Awards.
Mobile performance in the US part 3: performance in metro areas 1H 2018

UK results: EE is runaway champ again

In the United Kingdom, EE made a sweep, winning all six UK RootScore Awards in the first half of 2018.

EE has now won the UK Overall RootScore Award outright 10 consecutive times, dating back to the second half of 2013. Meanwhile, second-place Three delivered strong results but saw its ranking retreat in two categories. Vodafone, was in third place, and O2 took the fourth and final spot.
Mobile performance in the UK part 1: performance across the entire UK - 1H 2018

At the nation level, EE remained at the top even though its tally of UK Nation RootScore Awards declined by two compared to what it won during the second half of 2017, the previous testing period. EE's total of 20 nation-level awards for the first half this year, however, puts it far ahead of the operator's next-closest competitor, Vodafone, with five awards for the current period.
Mobile performance in the UK part 2: performance in the four UK nations - 1H 2018

Within the UK's 16 most populous metros, EE earned the highest number of RootScore Awards of any operator-95. Vodafone had the next-highest tally at 34.
Mobile performance in the UK part 3: performance in the UK's 16 most populated metros - 1H 2018

RootMetrics conducts tests in mobile network performance around the world, and then transforms the collected data into insights that help the industry improve while giving consumers an accurate picture of performance. For more information on RootMetrics, visit us on our US site as well as our UK web location.

IHS Markit Technology Expert

Posted 15 August 2018

Power consumption is always a critical element in the smartphone, with the central processing unit (CPU) and display screen the most two power-hungry components in the device. Power consumption, in turn, determines the battery life of the smartphone, itself dependent on the different applications, usage patterns, content type accessed by a user. In helping prolong the overall battery life of a smartphone while also reducing its power consumption, an important element is the smartphone display, especially for emissive types like AMOLED, or active-matrix organic light-emitting display.

At present, mobile AMOLEDs have adopted low-temperature polysilicon thin-film transistor (LTPS TFT) as the standard backplane, whether in rigid OLEDs with a glass substrate or in flexible OLEDs with a polyimide substrate. This is because of good electron mobility, which drives OLED circuitry and materials to achieve high pixel densities. In the AMOLED industry, there is a saying that if display makers wish to make good-quality AMOLED displays, achieving mature manufacturing in LTPS TFT first is a must.

However, a new kind of backplane TFT is rising on the horizon which the Apple iPhone may adopt in the long term- the so-called LTPO, or low-temperature polycrystalline oxide. In fact, Apple has applied for three important patents on LTPO. The first occurred in 2014 with the patent title "Organic light-emitting diode displays with semiconducting-oxide and silicon thin-film transistors." The second, in 2015, bore the patent title of "Displays with silicon and semiconducting oxide thin-film transistors." A third took place this year, with the title "Methods of protecting semiconductor oxide channel in hybrid TFT process flow."

Backplane technology is important because it covers the components in thin-film transistors that drive the main display. The backplane is what is responsible for turning individual pixels on and off, and so plays a significant role in determining a display screen's resolution, refresh rates, and power consumption.

According to the IHS Markit AMOLED & Flexible Display Intelligence Service, there is an important diagram showing the structure of LTPO in one of the patents from Apple, as shown below.

In the diagram, we can see that the backplane includes both the polysilicon (LTPS TFT) and the IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide), otherwise known as Oxide TFT. Basically, LTPO equals to Low Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide. The pixel circuit would be patterned such that the switching TFT would be p-Si and the drive TFT would be IGZO.

Oxide has a worse Vth shift performance compared to LTPS, but great merit in low frequency, at <30Hz. We estimate that Apple's target is to strengthen the graphics processing unit in the CPU, and bypass the frame memory in order to reduce power consumption.

However, Apple is also relying on display manufacturers to produce AMOLED panels for its iPhone. Why, then, would Apple develop LTPO backplane technology without the assistance and involvement of the display manufacturers who are its partners? In our analysis, we believe this is because Apple in the long term may want to have more control over components of the flexible OLED.

There are several reasons for Apple to introduce LTPO:

• To be more closely involved in flexible OLED component cost and technology
• To reduce power consumption of Apple products
• To achieve high electron mobility for higher resolution of its displays
• To better manage its display supply chain and that of its partner-display manufacturers

As we analyzed in an Insight article, Flexible OLED technology in the iPhone X series, Apple may try to increase the use of flexible AMOLED technology such as Touch on TFE, LTPO TFT, and RGB stripe pixel to differentiate from Samsung Display's currently dominant OLED technologies. Even though Apple may use flexible AMOLED alone from Samsung Display in 2017-2018 because Samsung is the most stable supplier, Apple may try to encourage other suppliers, such as LG Display, China's BOE or even Japan's JDI, to advance these technologies on their own.

The new technologies Apple will apply onto the iPhone flexible OLED will include:

• Touch on TFE: This is used to simplify module structures like Samsung Display's Y-OCTA (Youm-On Cell Touch AMOLED) technology, because the current film's add-on touch needs an adhesive layer, and a thicker layer can achieve better optical performance.
• LTPO TFT: This is used to reduce TFT power consumption because the oxide TFT structure can reduce the current power-leakage problem of LTPS.
• RGB stripe pixel: On the iPhone X, the PenTile screen's 459 pixels per inch (ppi) is similar to RGB stripe 306 ppi, which is less than the 326 ppi on the iPhone's Retina LCD. This means that in the long term, Apple will need to further increase the resolution of iPhones or revert to the lower-resolution RGB stripe

In the long term, flexible OLED panels will be the most important element in iPhones, and all iPhone models will move to flexible OLED screens as a result We can see that Apple hopes to reduce the influence of panel makers and for the company to be more involved directly in the supply chain. Apple's current involvement on key components of iPhone panels can help explain Apple's possible intentions.

Already, Apple has been involved in many discussions with component suppliers of the iPhone flexible OLED panel, such as for the cover glass (with Corning), the touch sensor (with Nissha), the organic light emitting materials (with UDC, Merck, Dow, Dupont, and Idemitsu Kosan), and the fine metal mask (with Dai Nippon Printing). However, in the case of display makers and the special pixel layout as well as TFT backplanes they produce, Apple is not involved in the driver IC-the main suppliers here being Samsung LSI and Silicon Works; nor in the TFT backplane-the main supplier here being Samsung Display, with LG Display possibly coming into the scene by Q4 2018.

Throughout the LCD era, Apple has been involved deeply with display component makers in a bid to understand the technology to reduce costs and improve specs. But in the OLED era, Apple has not been able to get involved in work relating to the TFT backplane and driver IC because the manufacturers of flexible OLED panels maintain exclusive control.

Another important reason for Apple to get in on the action is to reduce the power consumption of OLED displays. As we analyzed in the Smartphone Display Intelligence Service, smartphone displays are moving to a wider aspect ratio and larger size. The iPhone is no exception. The 6"+ and wider aspect ratio of 19.5:9-or even 19.9:9-will become the mainstream size for iPhone. As the aspect ratio gets bigger and the screen gets larger-and most critically, as resolution gets higher-power consumption will become even greater.

According to the AMOLED & Flexible Display Intelligence Service, the power consumption benefits of LTPO can be analyzed in the following figure.

Overall, in theory, LTPS can save 5-15% in power consumption compared to LTPS, especially under the switching model, resulting in the extension of battery life.

At the same time, we believe there are several challenges facing LTPO:

• A bigger TFT size: With LTPO, the transistor size of the TFT must be bigger as it needs to comply with both LTPS and oxide design. However, larger TFTs will mean that fewer transistors will be able to fit the glass substrate, resulting in lower resolution.
• An increase in the photomask process: The photomask, in LTPO is 20% more than that of LTPS, which is already 100% more than that of amorphous silicon (a-Si) TFT. A bigger photomask entails greater complexity, which then requires bigger equipment and, thus, investment.

Currently, Apple sources flexible OLED panels exclusively from Samsung Display, but LG Display may emerge as a second supplier as it aims for qualification. At present, both Samsung Display and LG Display are suppliers of flexible OLED panels for the Apple Watch, and Apple may soon require them to look at LTPO TFT backplane solutions for flexible OLED.

At the same time, JDI and BOE are both potential suppliers of flexible OLED displays for the iPhone. In particular, JDI has been developing LTPO for some time now.

As pointed out in the AMOLED & Flexible Display Intelligence Service, IHS Markit believes Apple may ask display suppliers to start deploying LTPO first on the Apple Watch, and then gradually introduce it in the iPhone display over the long term.

David Hsieh is Research & Analysis Director within the IHS Technology Group at IHS Markit
Posted 22 August 2018

Several new reports on the photovoltaic (PV) market have just been published by IHS Markit Technology that provide the latest updates on the global solar landscape.

In Solar EPC and O&M Provider Tracker, the report reveals the world's leading PV system integrators and includes details of their planned PV installation pipeline for the next 2-3 years. The quarterly report is the only study that can be found on the competitive environment for system integrators, and allows the integrators to benchmark themselves against their competitors and PV component suppliers to arrive at a better understanding of their potential customer base.

China's TBEA Sun Oasis was the world's top PV system integrator in 2017, retaining its No. 1 ranking from the year earlier. In contrast, Arizona's First Solar, the previous runner-up in 2016, fell out of the Top 10 completely in last year's tabulations, owing to the overall decline of the PV market in the United States.

In PV Market State Profiles - US, the new biannual report examines the 16 US states with significant, ongoing solar-related activity during the first half of 2018. Analysis is offered on each state's policy and regulatory landscape, competitive outlook, project development pipelines, economic attractiveness, and other drivers or barriers.

According to the new report, California will remain the country's largest state market for solar from 2019 to 2022, accounting for a quarter of PV demand in the United States. Demand in the state this year will rise 35%, with total PV installations amounting to 3.2 gigawatts (GW). The graph below shows California's annual PV installations from 2012 to 2017.

The 16 US states profiled in the report are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.

A parallel offering to the US state reports but focusing on the international front is available from PV Country Profiles, which provides dedicated studies on the PV market in individual countries. The countries most recently featured include the Netherlands, Japan, and France.

In PV Manufacturing & Equipment Spending Tracker, the report tracks the production, capacity, and equipment spending of PV wafers, cells, and modules, while also providing a roadmap showing adoption rates of the technology. Driven by booming end-market demand and record installation volumes globally, PV manufacturers have been adding new capacity. Total spending on PV equipment rose 36% in 2017 from the year earlier, and is expected to reach $9 billion at the end of 2018.

Market Insights, complementing the reports

Aside from the new reports, several new Market Insights are available on the current state of the industry. In Europe, PV module suppliers face intense competition as the minimum import tax is likely to end at the beginning of September, after being in place for five years.

Meanwhile, IHS Markit is maintaining its 37 GW forecast for China by year-end, with no reason to lower the projection for the world's largest PV market.

For China's neighbor to the south, India, it's not clear who the winners are-and many questions also remain-on that country's policies on safeguard duties for solar PV imports. While modules and cells can enter India without any safeguard duties for the time being, importers, however, must sign a letter that obliges them to retroactively make payments if the government reinstates the duties.

And as tracked by the IHS Markit Component Price Landscape report, lead times and prices for key electronic components used in PV inverters, such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors, have been increasing since 2017. The situation is not likely to improve, as a perfect storm of strong demand coupled with constrained supply will lead to high prices and long lead times of up to 40 weeks for some components for next year.

For more information, visit the Power & Energy Technology research service at IHS Markit Technology, which includes the Solar category that tracks all the trends and trajectories of the complex PV space.

IHS Markit Technology Expert
Posted 29 August 2018

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Manufacturing Technology

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• Apple iPhone AMOLED panel might introduce LTPO TFT backplane – David Hsieh
  Low temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) has the benefit of lower power consumption, but it has more photomask steps.
• Improving OLED TV panel production – Jerry Kang
  LG Display is trying to increase OLED capacity with Gen 8.5 multi-model glass and Gen 10 top emission technology.
• Should more TFT LCD fabs be shut down in 2019? – David Hsieh
  The shutdown of old Gen 3.5–4.5 fabs, as well as some Gen 5 fabs, could reduce capacity by 7% worldwide.
• TV panel size production, now and in the future – David Hsieh
  Gen 8.6 and Gen 10.5 growth is changing LCD TV panel size production strategy.
• Cost is biggest challenge for LCD panels with mini-LED backlight – David Hsieh
  The cost of a 10.1-inch HD IPS panel made in a Gen 5 a-Si TFT LCD fab can be $22.80. If equipped with mini-LED backlights, the module cost will be significantly higher, with total manufacturing costs reaching $212.
• Display fingerprint-sensing market update – Calvin Hsieh
  Chinese smartphone adoption has made display fingerprint-sensing more widespread since Q2. Samsung will wait until 2019, but volume will influence trends.
• LCD TV panel prices rebounded in July 2018; Temporary or beginning an upward cycle? – Yoonsung Chung
  Panel prices continued to decrease since H2 2017, and then began to increase in July 2018.
• Semicircle notch emerges as reference design for smartphone display full-screen panels – David Hsieh
  Rectangular notch designs are too customized and costly, so some smartphone display makers are introducing the semicircle notch design.
• Large-area TFT LCD shipments continue growth in H1 2018 – Yoonsung Chung
  Despite industry worries and oversupply, area and unit shipments of TVs and all large-area TFT LCD applications grew in the first half of 2018.
• FPD photomask forecast and market share – Charles Annis
  Panasonic LCD has maintained 90-97% monthly fab utilization this year. Automotive panel shipment targets had the largest growth rate of all the company’s applications.
• Water supply changes if Foxconn switches from Gen 10.5 to Gen 6 – Chase Li
  Panasonic LCD has maintained 90-97% monthly fab utilization this year. Automotive panel shipment targets had the largest growth rate of all the company’s applications.
• Creating FPD industry roadmaps – Charles Annis
  Charting a path to the uncertain future, supply chain companies that historically relied on very large markets and area growth must become more flexible and find ways to succeed in smaller market segments.

Enterprise & IT

• Arm goes full-stack with introduction of Pelion IoT Platform – Sam Lucero
  On 2 August 2018, Arm announced the acquisition of data management firm Treasure Data and the launch/re-branding of its IoT platform as “Pelion.”

Manufacturing Technology

• Arm goes full-stack with introduction of Pelion IoT Platform – Sam Lucero
  On 2 August 2018, Arm announced the acquisition of data management firm Treasure Data and the launch/re-branding of its IoT platform as “Pelion.”

Media & Advertising

• Nagra divests SmarDTV – Merrick Kingston
  Nagra has divested its SmarDTV business; and in Neotion—the French conditional access vendor—Nagra has found one.
• Amazon product ecosystem leads to higher Prime Video affinity and service ratings – Fateha Begum
  According to the IHS Markit Connected Devices and Media Consumption survey conducted in April 2018, consumers who owned an existing Amazon device were also more likely to purchase further Amazon devices, use Amazon’s Prime Video service, and engage with digital assistant Alexa.
• Console hardware: H1-18 hardware sales show console market in good health – Piers Harding-Rolls, Nick Parker
  The console market is in good health, growing in the first six months of the year in unit sell-through terms by 4% compared to the same period in 2017.
• Facebook to air La Liga free in India for next three seasons – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Spain's football league, La Liga, will air on Facebook free of charge in India and neighboring countries for the next three seasons.
• Nine Entertainment agrees to Fairfax takeover deal in major Australian merger – David Scott
  Major Australian media companies Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media have agreed to terms to merge their respective businesses.
• Comcast becomes first US pay-TV operator to partner with Amazon – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Comcast has secured a deal with Amazon to carry its Prime Video SVoD service on the Comcast Xfinity X1 pay-TV platform.

Mobile & Telecom

• Nagra divests SmarDTV – Merrick Kingston
  Nagra has divested its SmarDTV business; and in Neotion—the French conditional access vendor—Nagra has found one.
• TPG and Vodafone Australia announce merger plans – Seth Wallis-Jones
  Vodafone Australia, the product of a 50/50 merger in 2009 between Vodafone and Hutchison on the one hand, has announced plans to merge with TPG, a fixed-line service provider that has moved into offering mobile services.
• Nine Entertainment agrees to Fairfax takeover deal in major Australian merger – David Scott
  Major Australian media companies Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media have agreed to terms to merge their respective businesses.
• Arm goes full-stack with introduction of Pelion IoT Platform – Sam Lucero
  On 2 August 2018, Arm announced the acquisition of data management firm Treasure Data and the launch/re-branding of its IoT platform as “Pelion.”

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• Nagra divests SmarDTV – Merrick Kingston
  Nagra has divested its SmarDTV business; and in Neotion—the French conditional access vendor—Nagra has found one.
• Amazon product ecosystem leads to higher Prime Video affinity and service ratings – Fateha Begum
  According to the IHS Markit Connected Devices and Media Consumption survey conducted in April 2018, consumers who owned an existing Amazon device were also more likely to purchase further Amazon devices, use Amazon’s Prime Video service, and engage with digital assistant Alexa.
• Samsung Galaxy Home: Compelling, but late – Blake Kozak
  Because of a late start, it will be difficult for Samsung to compete with Amazon and Google in the short term.
• Smart home - Q&A – Blake Kozak
  Factors leading to the strong performance of the smart home sector in 2017 was consumer education. In turn, consumer education was being driven from many directions.

Power & Energy Technology

• PV module suppliers to face intense competition in Europe as MIP to likely end – Josefin Berg, Edurne Zoco
  On 21 August, the majority of EU member states rejected the request for the initiation of expiry reviews on the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures for crystalline solar PV modules and cells originating or consigned from the People’s Republic of China.
• IHS Markit maintains 37 GW PV forecast for China this year – Josefin Berg, Holly Hu
  Despite reduction in support for PV installations announced at the end of May 2018, the world's largest PV market had installed 31.3 GW of PV by the end of July.
• Electronic component shortage impacting PV inverter supplier production timelines and profit margins – Cormac Gilligan, Miguel de Jesus
  Many leading PV inverter suppliers are continuing to deal with key electronic component shortages and long lead times, two factors negatively impacting production schedules and profit margins.

Semiconductors

• Q2 2018 worldwide semiconductor revenue press release – Ron Ellwanger
  Insight contains Q2-18 semiconductor market summary.
• Q2 2018 Competitive Landscape Tool (CLT) quarterly updates – Ron Ellwanger
  Insight contains changes to the Quarterly CLT published 28 May 2018.
• Q2 2018 Competitive Landscape Tool regional (CLT) updates – Ron Ellwanger
  Insight contains changes to the Regional CLT that was originally published in March 2018.
• Q2 2018 Competitive Landscape Tool (CLT) annual updates – Ron Ellwanger
  Insight contains changes to the Annual CLT that was originally published in March 2018.
• Huawei to reach new peak in semiconductor spending as smartphone sales soar – Myson Robles-Bruce, Chee Seng Tan
  Chinese mobile network equipment and smartphone maker Huawei will boost its semiconductor spending to a new high in 2018 as its smartphones sales boom and market shares around the world expand.

In a much-anticipated development, Apple unveiled three new phone models—faster, bigger, and more expensive than ever—exactly one year after introducing its vaunted flagship, the iPhone X.

The announcement on Sept. 12 of the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, say IHS Markit analysts Wayne Lam, Jusy Hong, and Gerrit Schneemann, is a move by Apple to shift its entire line into the more lucrative premium segment.

And with a new entry price of $749, Apple is moving its devices even further away beyond the reach of its competitors, our analysts assert.

See our analysis and takeaway

For more information, go to our Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices research service, which includes coverage of mobile devices, consumer electronics, and more.

Wayne Lam is Principal Analyst for Mobile Devices & Network Technology
Jusy Hong is Principal Analyst for Consumer Devices & TVs
Gerrit Schneemann is Senior Analyst for Smartphones
Posted 12 September 2018

After staking out important positions in the TV and smartphone spheres, the makers of AMOLED panels are setting their sights on the automotive space to serve up better display performance and greater flexibility in design.

The move into new territory is a practical one: AMOLED capacity currently is in oversupply because of smaller-than-expected panel demand from smartphones, a market where display panels are heavily exposed and nearly saturated. In response to softening demand, panel makers are working to develop more AMOLED applications to consume the glut in capacity.

This is where automotive comes in. With their superior images, AMOLED displays are perceived by consumers to provide higher value for their cars. For car OEMs, AMOLED can provide a slim, bendable form factor with fast response times and high contrast ratios compared to TFT LCD, which are features highly appreciated in the automotive market as they provide better display performance and more fluid designability.

For these reasons, automotive has become a key growing market for the display industry. As can be seen in the graphic below, taken at SID Display Week 2018, display makers showed various AMOLED plays targeting the automotive display.

Several car makers have shown interest in AMOLED as automotive displays; among them are Volkswagen/Audi, Daimler/Mercedes-Benz, Toyota/Lexus, and GM/Chrysler. For instance, Audi in 2017 adopted a 5.7‑inch full HD (FHD) display in the A8 as its rear-seat remote display application. But according to the Automotive Display Market Tracker, the upcoming Audi e-Tron will have two 7‑inch 1280 × 800 AMOLED display panels as side-mirror displays; both are rigid AMOLED supplied by Samsung Display.

The new interest surrounding AMOLED has not been lost on domestic Chinese automobile brands, which have recently started investigating AMOLED feasibility for future models.

However, automotive displays require higher reliability requirements and a longer development cycle than in consumer electronic applications. Among the major challenges faced by AMOLED in the automotive market are color shifting over time and in high-temperature environments, as well as low brightness. Moreover, TFT LCD automotive display panel prices are dropping more quickly than ever before as many suppliers join the market, making AMOLED displays and their higher prices unpalatable in comparison.

Overall, global shipments this year of AMOLED displays for the automotive market are forecast to reach 35,000 units, according to the Automotive Display Market Tracker. By 2021, shipments worldwide will exceed 1 million units, as shown in the chart below. An additional increase in shipments is expected in 2022 as more suppliers join the market.

The current leaders in supplying AMOLED panels are the South Koreans, given that both LG Display and Samsung have been promoting AMOLED to automotive makers for many years. Samsung, which produced a small quantity of rigid AMOLED for automotive in 2017 for rear-seat remote displays, is expected to ship side-mirror displays from its Gen 4 A1 rigid AMOLED fab in late 2018. Samsung also plans to have flexible AMOLED from its A2 fab line for automotive, but it does not have any projects for now in development.

LG Display will be the second panel supplier to produce AMOLED for automotive. But unlike Samsung, LG is only at a development stage for flexible plastic OLED, manufacturing the material at the company's E2 fab as samples. LG then plans to mass-produce at its E5 fab in the second half of 2019. AMOLED has become important to LG Display to differentiate its offerings from that of other panel suppliers and to win the premium market.

For their part, Taiwanese panel suppliers lack the resources to invest in AMOLED and will focus instead on mini-LED or micro-LED solutions. JOLED, working with Denso, plans to deploy its inkjet printing technology for automotive displays in 2022. The Chinese panel makers, meanwhile, are gradually ramping up capacity, aiming to join the small circle of AMOLED makers in 2020. The Chinese panel makers that have shown interest in expanding their AMOLED business to automotive include BOE, Tianma, Visionox and EverDisplay.

The table below shows the current suppliers of AMOLED products for automotive, as well as the fab lines of suppliers, and the development status of specific products for use in automotive.