Despite lingering handset sales uncertainty, mobile SoC vendors MediaTek and Qualcomm continue to roll out new high-end offerings, while Apple remains keen on developing high-performance chips in house for its devices, providing stable opportunities for Taiwan's suppliers of high-speed, high-frequency customized IC test interface solutions, according to industry sources.

Test interface specialists including Chunghwa Precision Test Tech (CHPT), Keystone Microtech, MPI and WinWay Technology are facing inventory adjustments for handset APs at clients, but they also secure stable orders for new chip solutions under development by customers in their efforts to upgrade product portfolios, the sources said.

MediaTek, for instance, is expected to continue its product portfolios into the second half of the year, focusing more on developing Wi-Fi 6/6E or even Wi-Fi 7 SoCs and flagship handset APs.

The specialists are all moving to upgrade their chip probing cards, load boards for IC testing, and test sockets to support R&D of ever-advancing 5G, HPC, AI and RF chips as well as power management ICs (PMIC) and heterogeneous chips integration applications.

In particular, they hope their development of MEMS vertical probe cards to more notably contribute to their revenues starting in the second half of the year, the sources added.

By DIGITIMES