August 2018 Market Insights – Technology

Complimentary Content

Transformative Technologies

• Lithium-ion batteries and distributed compute drive UPS market momentum – Lucas Beran
  After the UPS market returned to growth in 2016, momentum continued into 2017 as the market picked up steam, growing at a rate of 3.6% to just under $7.7 billion.

Building, Home & City Technology

• ACaaS and mobile access propelling each other to mainstream adoption – Jim Dearing
  Demand for Access Control as a Service (ACaaS) has grown rapidly over the past five years, with growth expected to continue.
• At Sensors Expo event, new trends can be observed on sensors – Manuel Tagliavini
  At the recent Sensors Expo & Conference in San Jose, California, industry engineers, professionals, and observers gathered to discuss and survey the latest developments in sensors.
• Monthly LED lamp retail price remains stable at $12.82 in July – Paul Bremner
  Global LED lamp retail prices in June were 0.7% higher than in May 2018.
• Electronic access control integration is the first stop on the road to smarter buildings – Jim Dearing
  Electronic access control systems are the leading type of security system being integrated into building management system (BMS) platforms.

Displays

• Wide-screen smartphone display trend accelerates in Q2 2018 – Jusy Hong
  Smartphones with wide-aspect-ratio displays larger than 16:9 accounted for 45% of global smartphone shipments in Q2-18.
• South Korean panel makers maintain lead in 55-inch-and-larger TV panel shipments in H1-18 – Peter Su
  Area shipments of TFT LCD panels larger than 9.0 inches increased by 11% year-on-year, with unit shipments up by 7% in H1-18.
• 3D display cover lens expected to grow strong in coming years – Kimi Lin 
• Global shipments of 3D touch panel cover lens, which include front- and rear-cover glass for electronic devices, are expected to reach 223.5 million units in 2018, up 48.6% year over year.

Enterprise & IT

• CenturyLink holds top spot in 2018 IHS Markit “SIP Trunking Scorecard” – Diane Meyers
  CenturyLink, which merged with Level 3 last year, led the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking market, with the largest installed base.
• Optical equipment market continued to struggle in Q2 2018 – Heidi Adams
  In Q2-18, global optical network hardware revenue totaled $3.5 billion, decreasing 7% on a year-over-year basis.
• Universal CPE: A new market and new deployment model for managed services – Michael Howard
  The universal customer premises equipment (uCPE) market will increase from $7.7 million in 2017 to $1.02 billion in 2022—a cumulative $1.9 billion market over the six years from 2017 to 2022.
• Lithium-ion batteries and distributed compute drive UPS market momentum – Lucas Beran
  After the UPS market returned to growth in 2016, momentum continued into 2017 as the market picked up steam, growing at a rate of 3.6% to just under $7.7 billion.
• Huawei and Nokia named leaders in IHS Markit IMS vendor scorecard for the third time – Diane Meyers
  Huawei and Nokia are named leaders of the IMS scorecard for the third time.
• Designing infrastructure for the edge – Maggie Shillington
  For suppliers of edge deployments, the power required and the location of deployment are the most important consideration for product design.

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

• With growth exploding, the global operator terminal market reached $2.4 billion in 2017 – Rita Liu
  The global operator terminal market grew more than 10% year over year, reaching $2.4 billion in 2017, and is expected to exceed $3 billion by 2022.
• China’s machinery market suffered mixed fortunes in H1-18 – Teik Chuan Goh
  Even with strong 8.1% year-over-year growth, China's machinery production is growing at a slightly slower rate in 2018 than that it did in 2017.

Media & Advertising

• Microsoft announces All Access subscription system for purchasing Xbox One – IHS Markit Technology Expert
  Microsoft has provided details on its Xbox All Access subscription, which bundles a console plus access to Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass services into a single monthly fee.
• Kinepolis expands strongly in first half 2018, driven by acquisitions – David Hancock
  Belgian exhibition group Kinepolis grew its cinema attendance by 45% in H1-18, thanks largely to the group’s acquisition strategy.
• PVR continues trend of consolidation in Indian exhibition – Charlotte Jones
  Leading Indian multiplex operator PVR Cinemas has completed its acquisition of a 71.69% stake in SPI Cinemas, a chain of 17 cinemas and 76 screens in South India.
• IPTV driving growth in Asia-Pacific, where cable has a strong footprint – David Scott
  Pay-TV homes in the Asia Pacific region rose 5.7% to reach 76% of all homes in 2017.
• Fortnite: Battle Royale forges its own route onto Android – Jack Kent, Piers Harding-Rolls
  Epic Games has released its battle-royale version of Fortnite on Android, but isn’t doing so via the Google Play store.
• Fuji TV partners with Alibaba’s Youku Tudou to capture online demand in China – Kia Ling Teoh
  Japan’s leading commercial broadcaster Fuji TV has partnered with Chinese online video service Youku Tudou to stream Japanese dramas on its platform.
• ChinaJoy: Seeking opportunities in the face of strict censorship – Chenyu Cui
  The Chinese PC online-gaming market experienced a minor yearly increase of 3.2% in 2017, and that growth was entirely driven by Tencent’s legacy titles and Kingsoft’s JX 3 series.
• Amazon Channels launch in Japan – Jun Wen Woo
  Amazon Japan started offering Amazon Channels with 20 channels available for its Prime Video users to subscribe on 14th June 2018.
• Sony PlayStation-ChinaJoy press conference 2018: China hero project plays key role – Chenyu Cui
  Sony held a PlayStation press conference during Asia’s biggest games conference, ChinaJoy, to present a series of blockbuster games ready for its PS4 console and the Chinese market.

Mobile & Telecom

• CenturyLink holds top spot in 2018 IHS Markit “SIP Trunking Scorecard” – Diane Meyers
  CenturyLink, which merged with Level 3 last year, led the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking market, with the largest installed base.
• Optical equipment market continued to struggle in Q2 2018 – Heidi Adams
  In Q2-18, global optical network hardware revenue totaled $3.5 billion, decreasing 7% on a year-over-year basis.
• Universal CPE: A new market and new deployment model for managed services – Michael Howard
  The universal customer premises equipment (uCPE) market will increase from $7.7 million in 2017 to $1.02 billion in 2022—a cumulative $1.9 billion market over the six years from 2017 to 2022.
• Italian mobile operators respond to Iliad threat – James Joiner
  Iliad entered the Italian mobile market on 29 May 2018, as part of the remedy package that mandated the merger between Wind and Tre, which was announced in 2016.
• Revenue management market looking up, grows 6% year over year – Stephane Teral
  Worldwide revenue management system revenue hit $11.8 billion in 2017, a year-over-year increase of 6%.
• Huawei and Nokia named leaders in IHS Markit IMS vendor scorecard for the third time – Diane Meyers
  Huawei and Nokia are named leaders of the IMS scorecard for the third time.

Mobile, Consumer & Connected Devices

• At Sensors Expo event, new trends can be observed on sensors – Manuel Tagliavini
  At the recent Sensors Expo & Conference in San Jose, California, industry engineers, professionals, and observers gathered to discuss and survey the latest developments in sensors.
• Samsung Note 9 fills gap year – Wayne Lam
  Amid news of slowing Galaxy smartphone sales, Samsung has announced its follow-up to the Note series with the Note 9.
• Global smartphone shipment preliminary results – Jusy Hong, Gerrir Schneemann
  Global smartphone shipments reached 344.6 million units in Q2-18—down 1.8% year over year from 350.9 million units, and down slightly from the previous quarter.

Power & Energy Technology

• Smart electricity meters break through barrier of 100 million units per year – Claudia Portugal
  Annual shipments of smart electricity meters exceeded 100 million units for the first time in 2017, while total meter shipments reached 170 million.
• Few clear winners and many questions as India imposes safeguard duty on solar PV imports – Josefin Berg, Dharmendra Kumar
  On 13 August, India’s Ministry of Finance released a statement directing that safeguard duties not be imposed for the time being.

Security Technology

• ACaaS and mobile access propelling each other to mainstream adoption – Jim Dearing
  Demand for Access Control as a Service (ACaaS) has grown rapidly over the past five years, with growth expected to continue.
• UK’s nationwide TETRA network Airwave will continue to operate beyond 2020 – Ryan Darrand
  Existing Airwave contracts were due for renewal between 2016 and 2019.
• Electronic access control integration is the first stop on the road to smarter buildings – Jim Dearing
  Electronic access control systems are the leading type of security system being integrated into building management system (BMS) platforms.

Semiconductors

• Light sensors evolve; 3D sensing and spectroscopy are the next “big thing” – Manuel Tagliavini
  Light sensors are continuing to evolve from their traditional use in detecting light and distance to include ever-more complex and sophisticated functionality, including 3D sensing and spectroscopy.
• At Sensors Expo event, new trends can be observed on sensors – Manuel Tagliavini
  At the recent Sensors Expo & Conference in San Jose, California, industry engineers, professionals, and observers gathered to discuss and survey the latest developments in sensors.

Subscriber Content

Transformative Technologies

• 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.”

Building, Home & City Technology

• 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.

Displays

• AMOLED development status for automotive displays – Stacy Wu
  AMOLED faces oversupply due to smaller smartphone display demand. Panel makers are expanding AMOLED applications, especially in the automotive market, to consume excess capacity.
• Full-screen, notch-display polarizer supply tight since August – Joy Guo
  Small/medium display panel supply for smartphones is sufficient. However, there is a shortage in touch and display integration (TDDI), and supply of polarizers—especially free-form polarizers—is getting tight.
• Panasonic LCD shipment targets in 2018 – Linda Lin
  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.
• Hole design challenges on full-screen smartphone display – David Hsieh
  Within a few years, full-screen smartphone displays without a notch-cut may be launched.
• Japan Display to develop B-to-C business as next growth strategy – Hiroshi Hayase
  As the smartphone and automobile markets become saturated, Japan Display plans to develop original product applications for consumers as its next growth strategy.
• 43-inch at Gen 10.5 may drive 32-inch replacement – Deborah Yang
  The 43-inch could ease capacity burden and prevent free-falling 65 /75-inch panel prices.
• China to have 40% of global display polarizer capacity in 2021 – David Hsieh
  Aggressive polarizer investments will push China to have 40% of global capacity in 2021.
• 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.