United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) filed a lawsuit against Micron Technology subsidiaries in China for patent infringements in January 2018, and demanded a compensation of RMB 270 million ($40.7 million). UMC also requested the court to order potential defendants to stop manufacturing, processing, importing, and selling the allegedly infringing products. Yesterday, Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court of China issued a preliminary injunction against Micron, enjoining Micron from selling related items in China. DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, expects that the global memory market may have a reshuffle if the judgment is enforced and other Chinese memory suppliers enter the market next year.
According to the latest research of EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce, Chinese domestic solar market has been shirking after the release of new PV policy. Faced with the oversupply, Chinese module makers will seek ways to export the excessive products, or even sell off the products to overseas markets. Therefore, the global solar industry has paid intense attention to the price trends of modules and when EPC companies would place orders.
Since the end of 2Q18, major DRAM suppliers have been negotiating over the contract prices for Q3. Despite the fact that the bit output has been increasing quarter by quarter, the average selling prices of DRAM may still see a marginal rise in 3Q18 since the buyers are eager to stock up for the upcoming traditional peak season, says DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce.
According to the latest report by WitsView, a division of TrendForce, global TV panel shipments reached 23.52 million in May, a 9.1% growth over the previous month. Although branded TV makers have purchased fewer panels since 2Q18 in order to adjust their inventory levels, the panel makers still have high utilization rates. In the situation, they planned special deal projects to increase the shipments, which would probably further lower the panel prices.
The growth momentum for 2H18 NAND Flash market is expected to be weak, according to the latest report of DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce. Coupled with continuous improvements in yield rate and output of 64/72-layer 3D NAND Flash, DRAMeXchange expects the market to approach a balance between supply and demand, the contract prices of NAND Flash products are expected to decline further.