JW Insights News Digest Feb 1-5

China's semiconductor imports top US$380 billion 

China's import of IC and semiconductor equipment in 2020 topped US$380 billion, 18% increase over previous year, according to a Bloomberg report on February 3.  

The report quoted the statistics from China's General Administration of Customs. The import of semiconductor manufacturing equipment from Japan, Korea and China’s Taiwan alone numbered US$32 billion, 20% jump over 2019. 

Part of the IC import increase is because of the stockpiles by Huawei on US's sanction list, the report says.  

China will continue to rely on import for its needs and for its semiconductor manufacturing. China has no capacity to produce equipment for high end IC manufacturing. The process will be more than 10 years, according to the analysis by Gavekal Dragonomics, a Beijing based research company. 

The major sources of China mainland's import of semiconductor are China’s Taiwan, Korea, Japan, U.S., Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. 

Another report by SEMI in last December shows that China has become the largest market for global semiconductor equipment in the world in 2020. China's import jumped 14% over previous year. 

SEMI reported a global 7% increase in the semiconductor industry in 2020 and 8% increase is predicted for 2021. SIA's prediction at 8.4% this year and IDC's at 7.7%.

China’s MIIT issues three-year action plan to bolster up electronic component sector

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued a three-year action plan on January 15 for bolstering developments of electronic component sector in the country's electronics industry amid quickened global digitalization and continued U.S.-China tech war. 

The document entitled “Action Plan for Development of Basic Electronics Components Industry (2021-2023)” gives a specific target of achieving total sales of RMB2.1 trillion (US$328 billion) of electronic components by end of 2023, further consolidating China's position as a major global producer and exporter of electronic components. 

The plan lists out key product areas for investment and innovation, particularly in patent layout of RF filters, high-speed connectors, chip multilayer ceramic capacitors and optical communication devices. 

The action plan calls for further expanding the scale of the sector, achieving more key technological breakthroughs and facilitating growth of stronger corporate players. 

Hunan Province to focus more on 

3^rd generation semiconductors

Hunan Province in eastern China will accelerate its 3^rd generation semiconductor developments and build up a fuller industry chain in the sector. 

In mid-January, the province held a conference on strengthening its manufacturing industries and released a three-year action plan for developing silicon carbide material industry chain. 

Third generation semiconductor has become a new buzz in China's semiconductor industry over last couple of years. Demands are rising for its applications in electronic vehicles, 5G, smart power grids, semiconductor lightening, consumer electronics and aerospace sectors. 

The Hunan conference reviewed the province's development strategies of last five years and were pleased with the progress of 3rd generation semiconductor projects it has. Since 2015, Hunan began to attract IGBT projects in a to-catch-up mode and it has now projects that are in parallel with international advanced players, according to the conference documents. 

The major 3rd generation semiconductor investment projects in Hunan are ACME (顶立科技) in graphene material, SICC (山东天岳) and Sanan Optoelectronics (三安光电) in crystals，Global Power Tech (泰科天润) and Zhuzhou CRRC Times (株洲中车时代) in chip and modules. 

The Hunan 2021-2023 action plan noted, "We will promote the research and development of large-size silicon carbide single crystal and the application research of chips, power electronics, microwave electronics, optoelectronics and other devices, and accelerate the promotion and application of high-performance aluminum silicon carbide and silicon carbide coating materials."

China-made OLED production for mobile phone is to scale up this year, reducing Samsung Display's market share 

The output volume of OLED made by Chinese manufacturers is expected to reach 100 million unit mark this year, reported by JW Insights this week.

The report quoted Analyst Wu Shuyuan of Sigmaintell - a technology research firm -saying, "More local mobile phone makers will increase their purchase of China made OLED, resulting in reducing market shares of Samsung Display in China". 

Leading the surge is Visionox (维信诺）- a Guangzhou headquartered OLED manufacturer. Its order from Huawei is to exceed five million pieces and close to 10 million from Honor. 

Meanwhile, Apple, Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo are also taking up OLED supplies from Visionox since last year. Apple's iPhone 12 series used AMOLED from BOE - China's leading flat panel manufacturer and is expected to purchase more from it.  

Xiaomi started to cooperate with TCL CSOT last year and its Mi 10 phone uses AMOLD from TCL CSOT. This year Xiaomi is likely to purchase from Visionox, BOE and Tianma. 

Most of these Chinese mobile phone brands had been depended on Samsung Display for OLED supplies. Now they begin to purchase from Chinese manufacturers as well. Even Samsung Electronics is said to try with TCL CSOT. "Chinese leading brands are embracing local China-made OLED and it will be a new trend in 2021," said the JW Insights report.