Taiwan-based IC design houses are optimistic about their shipments for smartphone applications in the third quarter of 2021, thanks to the upcoming rollouts of new 5G-enabled models, particularly by Chinese brands.

According to industry sources, most IC vendors expect their order volumes to increase by over 10% sequentially in the third quarter, and revenues of related vendors will also see significant increases as quotes for 5G chips are generally higher than those for 4G applications.

Taiwanese IC vendors, including MediaTek, Realtek Semiconductor, Novatek Microelectronics, RichWave, Fitipower Integrated Technology, FocalTech Systems, and Leadtrend Technology, will benefit from the rising demand, said the sources.

Some local analog IC vendors noted that some Chinese handset vendors did revise their orders downward earlier in the second quarter due to slow smartphone sales during the Labor Day holiday shopping, but they have started building up inventories for the second half of the year.

The analog IC vendors also insisted that their shipment targets of 5G chips for 2021 remain unchanged as they expect global 5G phone shipments to grow exponentially in the year.

By DIGITIMES