IC design leads the way

Affected by the doubts of European debt in 2012, the growth momentum of various terminal products slowed down significantly. Only the growth rate of tablet PCs and smart phones in 2012 remained at 60% and 40% respectively. Focusing on smartphones, both market and feature-oriented observations. In the market, estimated global smartphone shipments reached 462 million units in 2011, and the penetration rate increased to 26%. It is expected that LTE will drive demand for replacements in Europe and America in 2012, and infrastructure construction will gradually improve and income growth will drive demand for smart phones in emerging markets. , The height of smartphone growth has continued.

It is estimated that smartphone shipments in 2012 will be approximately 645 million units with a penetration rate of 34%. As the market demand in Europe and the United States has slowed down, major markets have shifted to emerging markets, prompting the emergence of low- and mid-priced smart phones, including the Chinese market.

In 2011, China’s smartphone sales climbed by nearly 66.3 million units, with a penetration rate of 12.9%, driven by incentives from Chinese operators to subsidize medium and low-cost handsets, government suppression of counterfeiting, and falling 3G rates. It is estimated that in 2012, China's smartphone shipments will grow to 126 million units, and the penetration rate will increase to 24.3%.

Huawei and ZTE placed smart phone manufacturers earlier in China and benefited from the growth of the Chinese market. The market share of 3Q11 reached 2.5% and 3.9%, respectively, and they entered the top ten smart phone manufacturers. Other manufacturers (such as TCL, Lenovo, Tianyu, Oppo, Xiaomi, etc.) continued to introduce new smart phones after 2Q11. Looking forward to 2012, it is expected that feature phone manufacturers will continue to transform their production of smart phones, focusing on medium and low-cost models, and that China's operators will actively subsidize their policies. The demand for smart phones in China is strong.

In 2012, part of China's 3G development will be carried out in WCDMA and TD-SCDMA dual-track, and TD-SCDMA will have more advantages due to Spreadtrum's ownership of its own technologies and policies. China's brand mobile phone makers use the highest ratio. Morningstar (3697) will also focus on the initial development of the TD-SCDMA platform. However, due to its preemptive advantage, Spreadtrum is expected to dominate the TD-SCDMA market. In terms of WCDMA, the current major chip supplier is Qualcomm. Although 2012 will continue to expand its product line, its design architecture is complex and there are many software compatibility issues. Currently, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have gradually released a single MediaTek (2454), and 1Q12 MediaTek has launched MT6575. Will be cut into vendors' supply chains outside of Lenovo.

In addition the low-cost chip specification models also improved significantly. Panel section, the first half of 2011 Chinese brands and more low-cost models to cut into the battlefield, panel size of about 3.5 inches, resolution is only HVGA. However, after 3Q11, the size has been increased to about 4 inches and the resolution has been changed to WVGA. It is expected that the WVGA 2H12 penetration rate will reach 50%, which will become the mainstream resolution for medium and low-cost models. Currently, the WVGA specification has mass production capacity mainly for the Asahi Group, Yong, Yi force is expected to be launched 1Q12 WVGA size driver IC.

Smartphones almost full with touch panel includes a touch-chip and chip-related environmental sensing chip. Currently, the main supplier of touch-control chips is Yongzheng, and the subsidiary of MediaTek, Huiding and Qiruiya (3556) also started to inflate. It is inferred that MediaTek's mobile phone chip platform will be dominated by Huiding, and competition in touch-control chips will intensify. In terms of environmental sensing chips, China-brand smart phones have begun to carry environmental sensing chips. The main supplier is Ling Yao (3582), and Chuangchuang (8016) has also actively entered the Chinese market.

In the smart phone function part, visibility is higher with NFC (mobile payment). Google 2011 announced the launch of two NFC-based mobile payment services, Google Wallet and Google Offers. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, the three major mobile operators in the United States, formed a joint venture in 2011 to establish ISIS, and cooperated with Visa and MasterCard to establish a mobile payment system and environment. In 2012, the United States provided NFC services.

After Google, Apple and RIM mobile market key players actively involved in NFC technology, GSM Alliance (members of the world's major mobile operators), including Deutsche Telekom, China Unicom, Telecom Italia, also announced the establishment of standard NFC mobile payment system, and Implemented in some areas in 2012. At present, domestic manufacturers are expected to benefit from IP strength, and it is expected that 2012 will obtain Qualcomm order shipments and establish a licensing fee.

In 2012, the surge of low- and mid-priced smart phone replacements in the mainland has emerged, and Taiwan’s IC design manufacturers have been laying out for a long time, which is expected to be a priority for beneficiaries. It is expected that the low- and mid-priced smart phone manufacturers in the mainland will benefit from varying degrees of benefit. According to the revenue proportion and technical capabilities, MediaTek, Xuhui, and Lingyao will be the first choices. As for the NFC segment, Liwang will be the first choice.