South Korea's top-2 memory makers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are optimistic about their business performances for the second half of 2021 thanks to strong memory demand for mobile devices and servers, according to Digitimes Research.

AI speech recognition algorithm companies in China are crossing into the development of AI chips to further solidify their foothold in the market. Doing so will give the companies the ability to optimize algorithm and chip integration.

Taiwan's PC monitor shipments fell nearly 7% sequentially to 22.12 million units in the second quarter of 2021, due mainly to shortages of related components and materials, according to Digitimes Research.

The global top-5 notebook brands (not including Apple) saw their combined shipments slip 5% on month in July, due mainly to a substantial slowdown in demand from the gradually saturating education procurement sector, despite robust back-to-office orders and shipments of new consumer models, according to Digitimes Research.

TSMC, United Microelectronics (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) are forecast to see their combined revenues increase over 10% sequentially in the third quarter of 2021, with revenues for the whole year estimated to climb more than 20% on year, according to Digitimes Research.

With a huge population of 1.37 billion people, a high demographic dividend, and generous subsidies for electric vehicles (EV) from both the central and state governments, India is expected to increase EV penetration rate from 1% to 10% by 2025.

Global server shipments in the second quarter of 2021 saw a smaller sequential increase than Digitimes Research's estimated 14%, up only 9% from a quarter ago, due mainly to shortages of components such as ICs.

Global tablet shipments reached 34.69 million units in the second quarter of 2021, down 3.5% sequentially and 12.5% on year, according to Digitimes Research.

About 72.2 million smartphones were shipped to the China market in the second quarter of 2021, down 23.6% sequentially and over 20% on year, according to Digitimes Research.

Demand for unified communication solutions has significantly increased with users' rising reliance on remote communication in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global server shipments grew only 9.2% sequentially in the second quarter of 2021, weaker than Digitimes Research's estimation of 14% growth made in April, due to shortages of components and ICs.

Taiwan's shipments of small- to medium-size LCD panels are expected to edge down 1.1% sequentially in the third quarter of 2021 after growing 11.7% in the second quarter, according to Digitimes Research.

China-based vendors shipped a total of 160 million smartphones worldwide in the second quarter of 2021, down 16.4% sequentially and 3.2% on year. But shipments will rebound to a 14% sequential increase in the third quarter, according to Digitimes Research.

About 218 million smartphone application processors (APs) were shipped to China-based handset vendors in the second quarter of 2021, up about 3% sequentially, according to Digitimes Research. Shipments are forecast to register another sequential growth of 6.9% in the third quarter.

Procurement orders from the education segment reached the peak in the second quarter, while demand for gaming and enterprise notebooks also remained robust, but worldwide notebook shipments still performed weaker-than-expected in the second quarter of 2021, as a result of worsening shortages of panels, graphics cards, ICs, and substrates.