TrendForce’s latest figures reveal that global smartphone production reached around 284 million units in the first quarter of 2026, marking a 1.7% YoY decline. Despite a sharp rise in memory prices since the second half of 2025, the effect on production was minimal because brands still held inventories of cheaper memory components. Additionally, consumer expectations of higher prices in the future have helped sustain short-term demand, cushioning the impact of rising memory costs on production during the quarter.
SpaceX’s upcoming IPO plans have become a significant market focus, driven by rising global demand for satellite broadband, direct-to-cell (DTC) connectivity, and AI computing. According to TrendForce, SpaceX is expanding its satellite broadband coverage and aggressively entering new sectors such as DTC services, AI space computing, and space-based solar power (SBSP).
TrendForce’s latest research reveals that the current AI notebook market is primarily driven by Intel, AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm. However, as it stands, the industry still lacks products capable of fully demonstrating the value of on-device AI computing at scale and creating compelling upgrade incentives for consumers.
The rapid expansion of AI data centers and the intensifying race for AI computing power are accelerating the transition toward transmission speeds above 1.6 Tbps, according to TrendForce’s latest research. Major players such as NVIDIA, Google, and Meta are securing a stable supply by strategically locking in production capacity from electro-absorption modulated laser (EML) and continuous-wave distributed feedback laser diode (CW-DFB LD) suppliers.
Sharp increases in conventional DRAM prices since the second half of 2025 have reflected an increasingly tight supply-demand environment. However, the annual pricing mechanism adopted by the three major suppliers for HBM has prevented contract prices from fully reflecting quarterly market price increases in a timely manner, according to TrendForce’s latest research.