iPhone chip supplier TSMC anticipates drop in premium phone shipments, Bitcoin to fuel gro...
Chip manufacturer TSMC is anticipating a decline in shipments for premium smartphones this year, advising during its fourth-quarter earnings briefing that orders relating to cheaper mobile devices will rise slightly, with company growth likely to occur through embracing cryptocurrencies.
Speaking to investors during an earnings conference call, TSMC co-chief executive C.C. Wei claimed "In terms of shipment units, high-end smartphones are decreasing for this year." Brands and types of smartphone were not broken down by the firm, but TSMC is known to be a key supplier to Apple, providing it with the A-series processors used in its iPhones, iPads, and other devices.
Earlier this month, reports surfaced claiming TSMC has made a deal to continue being the sole provider of A-series chips to Apple, beating Samsung to secure the "A12" orders. Current speculation suggests the new chip will move from the 10-nanometer process used in the A11 Bionic to a 7-nanometer process, shrinking the die to pack more performance into the chip and possibly to improve overall power efficiency.
While the premium end of the market is thought to reduce, Wei is still optimistic on the mobile segment, reports Nikkei Asian Review, suggesting "Mid-to-low-end smartphones will increase by several percentage points." Overall, Wei warns TSMC's wafer revenue for mobile devices will be flat compared to 2017.
Manufacturing for mobile devices makes up a considerable amount of TSMC's revenue, reportedly accounting for half of the 977.45 billion New Taiwan dollars ($33 billion) it earned in 2017. For 2018, TSMC believes it will have a strong year despite the supposedly weakening mobile market, and expects revenue growth of between 10 and 15 percent.
Recent supply chain rumors claim there will be a reduction in orders for components used in Apple's iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus in the first quarter. While thought to be a seasonal depression, with the existence of three flagship Apple devices complicating matters, this does not necessarily offer any indications relating to component supplies for the rest of the year.
Rather than from the mobile market, TSMC's revenue growth may come from its other businesses interests, including the cryptocurrency mining industry, and the increased use of AI applications in data centers and in electronic devices.
On the cryptocurrency side, the Beijing-based Bitmain has become one of TSMC's best clients since the second half of 2017. The firm specializes in bitcoin mining chips and solutions, and has grown to account for between 3 percent and 5 percent of TSMC's revenue in the third quarter, as well as controlling between 70 and 80 percent of the mining chip market.
Due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, TSMC Chairman Morris Chang warns the company "is not going to add capacity for digital currency mining specifically." Estimated revenue from cryptocurrency mining was not provided, but it was revealed revenue in the sector was between $350 million and $400 million in the quarter ending in September.
In the quarter ending in December, TSMC reported revenue of NT$277.57 billion ($9.41 billion), an increase of 5.9 percent year-on-year and a new record for the company.
Speaking to investors during an earnings conference call, TSMC co-chief executive C.C. Wei claimed "In terms of shipment units, high-end smartphones are decreasing for this year." Brands and types of smartphone were not broken down by the firm, but TSMC is known to be a key supplier to Apple, providing it with the A-series processors used in its iPhones, iPads, and other devices.
Earlier this month, reports surfaced claiming TSMC has made a deal to continue being the sole provider of A-series chips to Apple, beating Samsung to secure the "A12" orders. Current speculation suggests the new chip will move from the 10-nanometer process used in the A11 Bionic to a 7-nanometer process, shrinking the die to pack more performance into the chip and possibly to improve overall power efficiency.
While the premium end of the market is thought to reduce, Wei is still optimistic on the mobile segment, reports Nikkei Asian Review, suggesting "Mid-to-low-end smartphones will increase by several percentage points." Overall, Wei warns TSMC's wafer revenue for mobile devices will be flat compared to 2017.
Manufacturing for mobile devices makes up a considerable amount of TSMC's revenue, reportedly accounting for half of the 977.45 billion New Taiwan dollars ($33 billion) it earned in 2017. For 2018, TSMC believes it will have a strong year despite the supposedly weakening mobile market, and expects revenue growth of between 10 and 15 percent.
Recent supply chain rumors claim there will be a reduction in orders for components used in Apple's iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus in the first quarter. While thought to be a seasonal depression, with the existence of three flagship Apple devices complicating matters, this does not necessarily offer any indications relating to component supplies for the rest of the year.
Rather than from the mobile market, TSMC's revenue growth may come from its other businesses interests, including the cryptocurrency mining industry, and the increased use of AI applications in data centers and in electronic devices.
On the cryptocurrency side, the Beijing-based Bitmain has become one of TSMC's best clients since the second half of 2017. The firm specializes in bitcoin mining chips and solutions, and has grown to account for between 3 percent and 5 percent of TSMC's revenue in the third quarter, as well as controlling between 70 and 80 percent of the mining chip market.
Due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, TSMC Chairman Morris Chang warns the company "is not going to add capacity for digital currency mining specifically." Estimated revenue from cryptocurrency mining was not provided, but it was revealed revenue in the sector was between $350 million and $400 million in the quarter ending in September.
In the quarter ending in December, TSMC reported revenue of NT$277.57 billion ($9.41 billion), an increase of 5.9 percent year-on-year and a new record for the company.
Comments
Time will tell, though.
So the climbing the luxury/fashion ladder as Apple does, may let it retain its premium margins but can hamper its suppliers simultaneously
https://www.apple.com/iphone/
You're moving the goalposts again. Seanis said the price of a "new" iPhone was $1000, which is not true. That's the price of the flagship or premium phone, but that is not the price of all new iPhones as he passed it.
To give an idea of the power needs for one mining rig. The page for the Bitmain Antminer S9, says the rig uses 1,372 Watts from the outlet. That comes to 32.9 kWh per day or 12,020 kWh per year. My electricity rates are 11.5 cents per kWh, so that works out to $3.78 per day or $1,380 per year. I don't know what the expected yield is for something like this, but it's a nice little space heater that you could run year round.
That's where FaceID comes in and is probably adding a fair amount to the cost of the phone (at least the iPhone X initially). It's one of the reasons it didn't appear on the iPhone 8.
Equivalent FaceID systems won't take two years to appear, at least in a hardware sense. Huawei (via its Honor brand) raised the curtain on its own system just a few weeks after Apple and promised 10 times the resolution of Apple's dotmap and ultra fast unlocking. Shortly after that, an Honor engineer demonstrated an actual working prototype to substantiate the claims.
That's on the hardware. Software is another matter. Apple seems to have done a great job here thanks to the learning aspect of its NPU.
However, things like only showing detailed notifications to the owner of the phone using recognition technologies were already present on some Huawei phones. The Honor Magic announced at the end of 2016 apparently worked very well:
https://techprolonged.com/2016/12/huawei-honor-magic-official-specs-price-availability/
Perhaps half the software side has been in the can for a long while. The other half really needs an NPU to shine and that appeared on the Kirin 970 last year and is already on some Honor phones. Put it all together and we might see a FaceID style solution in two months instead of two years.
Anyway even the question of what is a premium phone is debatable -- one could very well argue that all iPhones are by their nature premium phones, and the non-premium phones TSMC produces for are all the crappy knockoffs. Even if you didnt subscribe to that, one could argue that the 7 is still a premium device over the SE and 6 models, and thats $549.
Anyway you argue it, Seanis claim that $1000 is the price of a new iPhone is BS.
$699 is a premium phone price. Debate that all you want but few people will argue against it. Do we know have a new band? Ultra premium? And, for the record no goalposts were moved.