1. China's smart speakers are still in its infancy, and 40% of US users have considered buying a second one;
According to a recent survey by Edison Research, a national public radio and market research company, the proportion of smart speakers in the United States has reached 16%, a jump of 128% from January last year.
According to phonearena, smart speakers combined with audio and artificial intelligence, pioneered by Amazon, although only three years before the advent, but has become an indispensable part of the American family, 65% of respondents did not want to return to no smart speakers life.
The survey showed that 34% of users used smart speakers to listen to the radio, which replaced the smartphone. In addition, 30% of users use it when watching TV.
Switching lights and controlling room temperature and other home appliances are one of the biggest reasons to buy smart speakers. The survey even found that 38% of users consider other rooms or control more home appliances to buy a second smart speaker. .
Accenture/Harris InteracTIve, a technology consultancy, recently announced that online interviews have also found that two-thirds of respondents have reduced the use of mobile phones after they have smart speakers.
Yan Renjie, general manager of MediaTek's family entertainment products business group, told Ji Wei. The sales volume of the smart speaker market in the previous year (2016) was only 3 million units. Last year, the explosive growth rate was 10 times to 30 million units.
At present, from the perspective of the entire smart speaker market, foreign markets are relatively mature. Foreign technology giants such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Apple are all involved. Although the domestic market is in the early stage of development, it has already attracted a large number of domestic Internet/tech giants. Such as BAT, Jingdong, Xiaomi, Lenovo, etc., many small and medium-sized enterprises have entered the market, intuitively reflecting the prospects for the smart speaker market.
In foreign markets, Amazon Echo has sold more than 10 million units in more than two years, with market sales exceeding $1 billion. Investors Morgan Stanley analysts refer to smart speakers as "the most successful consumer electronics products" after the iPad. After the appearance of smart speaker products from giants such as Google, Apple and Facebook, some organizations predict that smart speakers will cover 75% of American households in 2020, reaching 94.2 million units.
In China, technology giants and artificial intelligence startups have laid out this market. Alibaba released the "Tmall Elf", the University of Science and Technology and the JD. Joint venture to establish Linglong Technology and released the "å®å’š Speaker", Lenovo launched the "Lenovo Smart Speaker", Xiaomi launched the "Xiaomi AI Speaker", with Google Investment The background of the startup company went out to ask questions and also issued a "question speaker."
From the perspective of the shipment of smart speakers in 2017, the entire market has begun to take shape. According to the latest data from Canalys, the shipment of smart speakers exceeded 30 million units in 2017. The global shipment of smart speakers is expected to reach 56.3 million units in 2018, which will be the “decisive year†for popularizing smart speakers.
2. Foreign media: NAND Flash prices fell to scare investors;
According to Reuters, after a year and a half of skyrocketing, the price of some memory chips suddenly fell, after South Korea’s Samsung Electronics released a disappointing 2017 profit forecast, so that those betting chip booms will continue at least. One year of investors feel uneasy.
It has been reported that the chip market has begun to lose some of its kinetic energy. The price of high-end flash memory chips widely used in smartphones fell by nearly 5% in the fourth quarter of 2017, and some analysts now expect the industry's growth rate to fall by more than half to 30% this year.
This led to a 7.5% decline in Samsung Electronics' share price last week, and its local competitor SK Hynix shares fell 6.2%. But analysts believe that it is unlikely to collapse suddenly. For chip makers, 2018 should be a relatively stable year.
The memory chip industry has reached US$122 billion and has experienced an unprecedented boom since mid-2016. The growth rate in 2017 alone is nearly 70%, thanks to the strong growth of smartphones and cloud services, which require more features. A powerful chip that can store more data.
After years of industry consolidation, the number of practitioners has dropped from around 20 in the 1990s to a few, and chip supply has become more disciplined.
"If demand remains strong but server (server) demand is in place, then memory chip prices will gradually decline in 2018," said Lee Jae-yun, an analyst at Yuanda Korea.
However, in this industry where performance has been fluctuating, the 30% growth rate is still quite good; after shrinking 6% in 2016, the market is still in the longest boom period in history.
Analysts said last year's explosive growth allowed chipmakers to reinvest in cash to increase output. Nomura estimates that NAND flash memory chips are outstanding, and this year's supply will increase by 43%, faster than last year's 34%, which may cause prices to fall by about 10%.
Nomura expects that the increase in chip production will basically be led by Western Digital, Toshiba and Micron, which are trying to catch up with Samsung, the number one chip maker. Samsung currently controls about 40% of the flash memory chip market.
The outlook is not gray
Analysts say smartphone vendors have been expanding their phone memory and increasing handset prices, allowing them to cope with the surge in memory prices last year.
BNP Paribas analysis showed that the new DRAM memory released last quarter increased by 38% on average compared to the second quarter of 2016, while NAND content measured in gigabytes jumped by 84%.
Analysts say such strong demand will allow the industry to maintain a solid profit margin this year, while chipmakers investing in more advanced technology will help reduce production costs and remain profitable even if prices fall.
Macquarie estimates that the operating margin of Samsung's chip division jumped from 47.5% in 2016 to 47% last year, and is expected to rise further to 55.5% this year.
Although the NAND flash market may be weaker, the DRAM memory chip market, which is about $20 billion larger than the NAND business, is expected to tighten sharply. Affected by a severe supply shortage, prices are expected to rise by nearly 9%.
According to Nomura, as DRAM makers are busy increasing production, prices for next year may fall by as much as 18%. These manufacturers are likely to increase capital expenditures from $10 billion in 2016 to $38 billion in 2017 and 2018.
This gives some investors confidence in the long-term prospects of the industry.
"In addition to some minor adjustments, my current Samsung holdings have barely changed," said Kim Hyun-su, IBK Asset Management fund manager. "I think the stock price is not expensive because they have recently raised their dividends a lot, and So far, the expected level of profitability is quite high."
Pressure from customers
Smartphone makers account for about a third of global memory chip demand, and many manufacturers have been pressured on suppliers to cut prices.
At the end of December, China Daily reported that the National Development and Reform Commission closely monitored the recent surge in price of mobile phone memory chips, or will investigate possible price manipulations of companies.
According to DRAMeXchange, which tracks the price of chips, more than 50% of Samsung's 2017 memory business revenue comes from China.
“Although the supply and demand dynamics are still stable, the pressure on customers to reduce prices makes the (future) situation difficult to predict,†said Samsung Securities analyst MS Hwang. Sina US stocks
3. TSMC said that it will focus on 7 nanometers. The total revenue this year is expected to exceed one trillion yuan;
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