02.15.2012 // Posted by: Walt Custer // Posted in: Articles, Industry Conditions

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Taiwan listed electronics companies, many with manufacturing in China, generally saw a sequential sales decline in January due to a combination of normal seasonality, weak export demand and Lunar New Year holiday shutdowns:

• Taiwan listed OEMs reported a sharp NT$ sales drop in January (Chart 1). Converted to U.S. dollars (Chart 2), Southeast Asia’s impact to global electronic equipment sales is obvious.

Chart 1



Chart 2


• Taiwan-listed ODM companies (Chart 3) also reported a large revenue decline in January (Chart 4) as did computer motherboard producers (Chart 5).

Chart 3



Chart 4



Chart 5


• Manufacturers of networking equipment (Chart 6) and industrial computers (Chart 7) also reported a sharp January downturn.

Chart 6



Chart 7


• Component-related sales also dropped sequentially in January including displays (Chart 8), memory (Chart 9), passive components (Chart 10) and Package and Test (Chart 11).

Chart 8



Chart 9



Chart 10



Chart 11


• Chip foundries’ (Chip 12) and solar/photovoltaic related companies’ revenues (Chart 13) by contrast improved slightly.

Chart 12



Chart 13


• Rigid printed circuit boards and rigid (CCL) laminate makers (Chart 14) saw a January sales decrease and flex circuit revenues also dipped slightly (Chart 15) from December to January, driving the total production of 46 Taiwan-listed rigid and flex printed circuit makers down last month (Chart 16).

Chart 14



Chart 15



Chart 16

Source: Taiwan-listed company financials

Global Semiconductor Sales almost $300 billion in 2011

(Chart 17)

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that worldwide semiconductor sales for 2011 reached a record $299.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.4% from the $298.3 billion recorded in 2010. Worldwide semiconductor sales in December amounted to $23.8 billion, a decrease of 5.5% from the month prior. Fourth quarter sales of $71.5 billion represent a 7.7% decline from the immediate prior quarter, and a 5.3% decrease over the same period in 2010. All monthly sales numbers represent a 3-month moving average.

“Between the natural disasters in Japan and Thailand and the overall impact of a weak global economy, 2011 presented a number of major challenges for the semiconductor industry. Despite these setbacks the industry showed resiliency and posted year-on-year growth with record-breaking revenues for 2011,” said Brian Toohey, president, Semiconductor Industry Association. “The health of the industry is a direct reflection of the pervasiveness of semiconductor innovations and their applications in almost every aspect of modern society.”

Source: www.sia-online.org

Smartphone Market Hits All-time Quarterly High Due to Seasonal Strength and a Wider Variety of Offerings

(Chart 18) (Chart 19) (Chart 20)

The worldwide smartphone market grew 54.7% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q’11), as Apple unleashed its iPhone 4S on an eager marketplace. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 157.8 million units in 4Q’11 compared to 102.0 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 54.7% year-over-year growth was higher than IDC's forecast of 40.0% for the quarter, and higher than the 49.2% growth in 3Q’11.

On a full-year basis, total smartphone shipment volumes reached 491.4 million units in 2011, up a strong 61.3% from the 304.7 million units in 2010. This was higher than IDC's full year estimate of 54.7% for the year, but still below 2010's year-over-year growth of 75.7%. Although this marks a slowdown from 2010, IDC still fully expects continued double-digit growth for the foreseeable future.

Smartphones continued to be one of the hottest consumer electronics products in the market, and was helped along by the launch of key devices. "By the end of the quarter, one out of every three mobiles phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team. "The launch of Apple's iPhone 4S played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand, and smartphone launches from other vendors also provided a broad selection to meet varying preferences and budgets."

The variety of offerings have become more nuanced as smartphone makers try to grow their respective user bases in emerging and developed markets alike.

"So-called 'hero' devices, such as Samsung's Galaxy Nexus and Apple's iPhone 4S, garner the bulk of the attention heaped on the device type," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program. "But a growing number of sub-$250 device offerings, based on the Android operating system, have allowed Google's hardware partners to grow smartphone volumes and expand the market concurrently."

Source: http://www.idc.com/

Media Tablet Sales to End Users are Expected to Reach 248.6 Million Units by 2015; Smartphones Sales to End Users will Reach 1,048.0 Million Units by 2015

Global tablet sales to end users reached 67.0 million units in 2011 and are expected to reach 248.6 million units by the end of 2015, growing at a CAGR of 38.8% from 2011 to 2015. Asia – Pacific (including Japan) is expected to enjoy the highest share of overall global shipments and end user sales of Tablets at 36.1% and 35.3% respectively in 2015.

In 2011, Smartphone sales to end users reached 469.9 million units, registering a growth of 66.7% over 2010 sales of 282.0 million units. Smartphone sales to end users are expected to reach 1,048.0 million units by 2015 with Asia Pacific accounting for the largest market share at 39.5%. Asia Pacific is also expected to enjoy the highest growth rate at a CAGR of 36.3% from 2010 to 2015.

The Tablet sales to end user increased by 276.5% in 2011 from 17.8 million units sold to end users in 2010. The growth in sales is largely attributed to consumer response to Apple’s iPad 2, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 2 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire Tab. Launched in November 2011, Amazon’s USD 199 Tab; Kindle Fire, had incredible response among consumers and managed around 3.5 million units sales in last 45 days of the year 2011. Globally, the installed base of Tablet devices have reached 81.2 million units in 2011 and are expected to reach 388.8 million units by the end of 2015. This represents approximately 45% replacement/loss rate by the same year.

Source: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/tablet-and-smartphones-market.html

Hitachi’s HDD Business to be Recovered by End of 1Q’12

Hitachi’s hard disk business should be recovered from severe flooding in Thailand by the end of this quarter.

Steve Milligan, president of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies said the company should return to pre-flood shipment levels by the end of March, though there could be issues with certain products.

"Our plan was to be fully recovered as we exited this quarter, and we're going to be successful at that," Milligan said. Milligan does see supply shortages, overall, for the industry for the rest of 2012.

Source: Dow Jones