Apple remained the world’s top semiconductor customer in 2020, comprising 11.9% of global chip spending, reported Gartner Tuesday. Samsung was second with 8.1% share, and Huawei barely inched out Lenovo for third with 4.2% share, it said. Huawei significantly decreased its semiconductor spending in 2020 to $19.09 billion, down 23.5% from 2019, said Gartner. Trump administration export restrictions on Huawei limited its ability to buy semiconductors, but the Chinese market “remains important for semiconductor vendors, as other Chinese smartphone OEMs stepped in to fill the vacuum created by Huawei in the second half,” said analyst Masatsune Yamaji.
U.S. importers sourced record quantities of laptops, tablets and TVs in 2020 to meet high demand for connectivity and home entertainment gear during lockdowns, said Census Bureau data we accessed Sunday through the International Trade Commission. The 125.68 million laptops and tablets under Harmonized Tariff Schedule 8471.30.01 was a 23% increase from 2019 and the most in any year since Census began reporting that HTS category in 2007. Q4 shipments of 43.44 million laptops was the highest quarterly volume recorded, rising 40%.
Global open radio access network revenue for 5G and other technologies will grow by a double-digit percentage in the next six years, reported Dell'Oro Group Friday. Cumulative ORAN investments in hardware, software and firmware, excluding services, are projected to approach $10 billion 2020-25. The conversation “has clearly changed over the past six months," said analyst Stefan Pongratz. It’s no longer a question if ORAN will happen, but when, he said: “The question now is more on the timing and the scope.”
Instacart will partner with Family Dollar on same-day delivery from more than 6,000 U.S. stores, they said Thursday. This builds on the 275-store pilot they launched in November. Family Dollar small electronics include inexpensive headphones, earbuds and AV accessories and cables. Instacart launched a similar national partnership with 1,400 Big Lots stores in June (see 2006080035).
Cirrus Logic’s “engineering progress continues to be really positive” on a power component it’s developing for introduction later in 2021, said CEO John Forsyth on a quarterly call Monday. “We continue to be very excited about the journey we're on with our customer,” he said in obvious reference to Apple. “We are optimistic about our ability to execute on this strategic plan,” he said. “While we understand there is intense interest related to our largest customer, in accordance with our policy, we do not discuss specifics about our business relationship.” Apple didn't respond to questions Tuesday. Cirrus Logic stock closed down 8.1% on $89.98.
Sensor supplier Ams is sampling ambient light sensors designed for smartphone camera image correction. The sensors can be positioned at the gap between the display screen and the phone’s chassis to stretch edge to edge with no aperture, said the company. The higher-end version includes flicker detection for artificial light sources such as LEDs, enabling a phone’s camera to eliminate banding and other flicker-generated artifacts that distort images, said the company.
Global semiconductor sales reached $439 billion in 2020, up 6.5% from 2019, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. Sales of $117.5 billion in Q4 were 8.3% higher than the 2019 quarter and up 3.5% sequentially. Sales in 2020 were up “moderately” from 2019, “weathering a challenging macroeconomic environment brought on by the pandemic and other factors,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. Though global semiconductor demand is on the rise, U.S. share of worldwide chip production declined to 12% in 2020, from 37% in 1990, he said: “That disparity will only intensify without U.S. government action to level the global playing field. It’s imperative the federal government fully fund incentives for domestic chip manufacturing and investments in chip research.”
The Consumer Product Safety Commission warned Thursday of increased risk of injury or death from TV and furniture tip-overs, with families spending more time indoors due to COVID-19 restrictions. Millions of consumers will watch the Super Bowl Feb. 7, it said, urging consumers to anchor all TVs in the home. From 2000 to 2019, 451 children 17 and under were killed by furniture and TV tip-over incidents, said CPSC, and from 2017-19, an average 11,100 children annually were treated in hospital emergency rooms for tip-over-related injuries. Some 75% of children's fatal tip-over incidents involved a TV.
The International Trade Commission by a 5-0 vote (login required) agreed to open a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations that IP cameras and video doorbells from Arlo Technologies, SimpliSafe and Vivint Smart Home infringe seven communications and monitoring system patents from SkyBell Technologies, SB IP Holdings and EyeTalk365 (see 2012250001). The complainants seek an import ban on the allegedly infringing devices. The ITC assigned (login required) Administrative Law Judge Dee Lord to the case.
Futuresource forecasts 80% of CE in 2024 will have voice assistants, dominated by Amazon, Apple, Baidu, Google, Microsoft and Yandex. Qualcomm’s announcement Tuesday that it will integrate Alexa Custom Assistant with its Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit platforms will enable OEMs to equip each brand with unique wake words, voices and capabilities (see report, this issue). Voice assistants will soon break out of mere command and control-based functions and simple Q&A operations, Futuresource's Simon Forrest told us. Amazon Conversation, an extension of Alexa’s voice control capability that's due this year, “should be able to interact intelligently in a multi-person discussion,” and Google Duplex has shown levels of conversation attainable with sufficient artificial intelligence and compute performance, said the analyst. Assuming conversational voice platforms develop intelligently, Forrest emailed, "this should naturally elicit deeper and more meaningful interaction," which would allow virtual assistant vendors to learn more about users and personalize responses