Television Competition

 

According to industry sources on Oct. 5, SK Hynix became the largest supplier of DRAM and high-capacity NAND flash featured in Apple's latest TVs. SK Hynix's 2GB LPDDR3 DRAM and 32GB NAND, which are used for smartphones, were used in the 4th-gen Apple TV that was unveiled on Sept. 9. The Korean chipmaker is also supplying DRAM at a similar level to the Amazon TV.

Amazon has attracted component makers that have a prickly relationship with Apple, like Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Toshiba. Qualcomm and MediaTek are competing with Apple for application processors (APs), whereas Toshiba no longer supplies parts to Apple, after the U.S. company launched a massive recall of defective MacBook Airs with Toshiba SSDs.

In the case of the Amazon Fire TV, Samsung and Toshiba were apparently selected as suppliers of DRAM and NAND flash this time. Qualcomm's processor, Samsung's DRAM, and Toshiba's NAND flash were used in the Fire TV that was launched last year. The composition is likely to be similar this year, aside from MediaTek's AP instead of Qualcomm.

Industry analysts are anticipating that an increase in the storage capacity of memory in TVs and TV peripherals, following servers, PCs, and mobile devices, will create a steady demand for memory chips. The price of DRAM and NAND has been dropping sharply this year due to oversupply.

Starting with Apple, Amazon, and Google, the entry of numerous companies into the streaming media device market is expected to greatly increase the sale of terminals. Around 86 million units of streaming media terminals are projected to be sold worldwide in 2019, a twofold or threefold increase from the current level, according to market research firm Parks Associates.

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