The latest analysis from global research firm TrendForce reveals that the global demand growth for industrial robots continues to accelerate on account of workforce shortages and loss of demographic dividends. Harrison Po, senior manager of TrendForce’s photonics and innovative technologies research, said that China in recent years has been energetically pushing forward with the transformation of its economy, and sales of industrial robots in the country has been growing rapidly in response to the rising demand for automation. Based on TrendForce’s projection, the industrial robot demand in China is expected to reach 95,000 units in 2016.
Consumers’ relentless pursuit for richer audiovisual experience has propelled the popularity of virtual reality (VR) devices and drawn in more companies to invest in this market. Furthermore, the competition among the increasing number of players will bring about diversification and growth of VR applications.
Developments in the Internet and the Internet of Things (IoT) will propel strong growth in industries related to smart healthcare in 2016. According to global market research firm TrendForce, worldwide spending on smart healthcare services (e.g. telemonitoring, diagnostic equipment, assisted living and bio-data tracking) will reach US$30 billion in 2018, growing at a CAGR of 60% from 2016 to 2018.
The market for wearable devices (also known as wearables) has maintained a certain growth level in recent years, though device vendors have not experienced a boom in demand as they would hope. The total wearable device shipments in 2015 are estimated at 68.1 million units, according to global market research firm TrendForce.
Much of the development of the global mobile communication sector this year involves telecom operators expanding the 4G network. Next year, mobile operators will be working feverishly to upgrade their networks to LTE and to grow the 4G user base with bundled service and end device packages.