Steady growth in the LED lighting market supported the capacity expansion efforts of LED chip and package industries in 2016, says LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. Furthermore, the annual revenue of China’s LED package market grew by 6% for 2016 to reach US$8.9 billion, according to LEDinside’s 2017 Chinese LED Chip and Package Industry Report. In terms of ranking by revenue market share, Nichia retained its first place position in the Chinese market for 2016, while MLS climbed to second place and Lumileds dropped to third place.
The global market for lithium batteries witnessed an average price increase of 15% to 25% for battery cells in the first half of 2017 compared with the second half of 2016, according to EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce. This rise was mainly attributed to the cobalt price hitting a five-year high. Going into the second half of 2017, the price upswing in the cobalt market is expected to start leveling off. On the other hand, seasonal demand during the same period will drive market for batteries used in x-electric vehicles (or xEV, which include plug-in hybrid electric and battery electric vehicles). EnergyTrend projects that battery cell prices on average will increase by about 10% this third quarter compared with the previous quarter and will continue to be on a gradual uptrend through the fourth quarter.
The financial industry, which has been labor intensive and data driven, is one of the sectors most affected by the transformative changes brought about by artificial intelligence (AI). The latest AI market analysis by TrendForce finds that the fastest application growth for AI within the financial industry is taking place in the field of investment consultation services.