On Dec. 13, 2022, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted on Twitter a photo showing him at an elementary school in Kumamoto, Japan, along with the message, “Sony is Apple’s partner and has made the world’s best camera sensors.”Kumamoto is the region where Taiwan’s TSMC and Japan’s Sony will build a joint venture
Following Intel in the United States, Japanese companies have declared their participation in the semiconductor ultra-fine process competition, turning the two-way race between Samsung Electronics and Taiwan into a four-party competition.Atsuyoshi Koike, president of Japanese semiconductor company R
In an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on Jan. 25, Atsuyoshi Koike, president of Rapidus Corp., said his company would build a 2nm semiconductor prototype line by the first half of 2025.Rapidus is a new company established by eight companies, including Sony, Toyota, Kioxia, NTT, Softbank, NEC
Competition is getting fiercer among CMOS image sensor (CIS) producers. Samsung Electronics recently introduced a new ISOcell image sensor with 200 million pixels featuring latest technologies. Following the release of a 100 million-pixel image sensor in 2022, SK Hynix, a latecomer in the image sens
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at kyeongkeun.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Having developed VR content in the domestic game market for over 10 years, SKonec boasts the heftiest VR game track record among Korean players. With global IT companies now starting to laun
LG Electronics stands out in the Middle East market, where preference for premium products is high among consumers. In particular, the Korean home electronics giant ranked first in the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV market with a share of up to 80 percent, a survey has found.LG Electronics a
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at kyuha.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. CES 2023 highlighted the popularization of XR, mobility technology, and AI, and decreased interest in existing IT devices such as home appliances, PCs, and smartphones. The showcase company was So
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at kyuha.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Samsung Display, which has been lukewarm towards OLEDoS displays thus far, is expected to establish a mass production system for OLEDoS panels from 2024, after starting a pilot line in 2023. We al
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at kyuha.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. APS Holdings recently completed the development and sample production of high-definition OLEDoS panels using RGB deposition and FMM for the first time in the world. We expect the firm to benefit f
Samsung Electronics’ share of the premium TV market is on the wane amid a decline in global TV demand.Premium TVs sold worldwide in the third quarter of this year stood at 5.1 million units, up 8 percent from the same period of 2021, said Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), a market researcher
Multiple new-generation mixed reality (XR) devices are expected to debut next year. The examples include Apple’s headset, the mass production of which is expected to start in the first quarter. Those also include Sony’s PlayStation VR2, Meta launched the Meta Quest Pro last month, and Meta’s AR glas
The Nikkei reported on Nov. 13 that eight Japanese companies (Toyota, Sony, Kioxia, Denso, NEC, SoftBank, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and NTT) will found Rapidus to develop next-generation semiconductor technologies such as 2-nm chips. The new company is expected to start 2-nm chip mass production in 2025 l
Global brand consulting company Interbrand estimated Samsung Electronics’ brand value for this year at US$87.7 billion, the fifth highest after the U.S. Big Four tech companies -- Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Samsung has maintained its fifth place for three consecutive years since 2020.Hyun
Premium TV prices are falling noticeably as domestic and foreign companies are in price competition in response to sluggish demand.UBI Research, a market research company, conducted a survey of retail prices of 65-inch premium TV models from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Sony at stores of
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at jeff.kim@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain HOLD but revise down TP to KRW16,000 We maintain HOLD but cut our 12m TP to KRW16,000 (0.5x 12m fwd P/B) for LG Display. We have made significant downward revisions to 2022E-2023E earnings to reflect s
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at kyuha.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Meta unveiled its new XR device, the Meta Quest Pro, at its Meta Connect 2022 event. Given the relatively disappointing hardware upgrades and lofty price tag, Meta’s XR market share could suffer i
SK Hynix has developed a 100-megapixel image sensor. The company is expediting the launch of high-pixel image sensors to change the two-runner race between Sony and Samsung Electronics.On Oct. 6, SK Hynix introduced Hi-A811, a 108-megapixel image sensor for smartphones at SEDEX 2022 held at COEX in
The authors are analysts of Shinhan Investment Corp. They can be reached at sokang@shinhan.com and kimaram@shinhan.com, respectively. -- Ed. 3Q22 preview: Deregulation of web board games and upturn in sales of existing gamesNeowiz is expected to earn operating profit of KRW8.2bn (positive swing YoY,
Market research company IC Insights predicted that the global image sensor market will suffer negative growth this year.The image sensor market has enjoyed double-digit growth for years as its use in smartphones and automobiles has increased. But it is expected to record a negative growth rate for t
Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are facing an increasing challenge from Chinese companies in the shrinking global TV market. The South Korean companies are aiming to overwhelm them again by further developing their technologies.In the first half of this year, the global TV market shipments de