DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, notes that x86 continues to be the mainstream architecture for server CPUs this year, with Intel and AMD being the market leaders. Particularly, Intel dominantly represents around 98% of the total server CPU shipments worldwide in 2018. For the next year, the market share of AMD x86 server CPUs is expected to go up to 5%, after the company’s introduction of 7nm CPUs to the market.
According to the latest report by WitsView, a division of TrendForce, the global shipments of branded LCD TV sets for 2018 are forecast to total 218 million units, an increase of 3.4% compared with last year. The market has been driven by stock-up demands for the World Cup and lower prices of TV sets. Since BOE’s Gen 10.5 fab entered production, the costs of large-size panels have witnessed a significant drop, lowering the prices of TV sets as well. Particularly, more attractive retail prices for large-size models may fuel future growth in the TV market.
According to the latest report by TrendForce, the global notebook shipments for 3Q18 are estimated to increase slightly by 3.9% QoQ, reaching 42.68 million units. Compared with the previous forecast of 5~6% growth, this projection has been adjusted 2% downward due to the shortage of Intel CPU.
DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reports that the bit output from the NAND Flash industry increased steadily in 3Q18, as suppliers raised the yields of their 64/72-layer 3D NAND production. NAND Flash demand, however, had yet to catch up with supply despite the year-end busy season. The shortage of Intel CPUs and the lower-than-expected sales of new iPhone devices have respectively stifled the demand growths related to notebook PCs and smartphones. Also, the US-China trade dispute has been a negative influence on the whole market. Because the NAND Flash market had been in oversupply since the start of 2018, contract prices of NAND Flash products in 3Q18 registered significant declines from the previous quarter, and the average price drop was 10-15%.
The total revenue of the global DRAM industry grew by 9% QoQ, and again hit a new record high in 3Q18, reports DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. The survey of the price trends in the third quarter shows that contract prices in the mainstream application segments (i.e. PC, server, and mobile) maintained QoQ increases of 0-2%. Particularly, the contract price of mainstream DDR3 consumer DRAM was the first to drop during the quarter because of the weakening demand. Also, contract prices of graphics DRAM products fell by around 3% QoQ due to the sharp drop in the demand related to cryptocurrency mining as well as the higher base of the previous quarter.
