The global LED lighting market value in 2015 is estimated at US$29.908 billion, increasing on year by 24.8% and accounting for 27.2% of the 2015 global market value for all lighting products, according to Digitimes Research

China's government policies for supporting the local IC design industry have put less emphasis on intervention measures such as offering tax breaks, providing direct financial support, and making purchases of domestic products, while shifting their focus to the establishment of investment funds, according to a recent Digitimes Research Special Report

China's anti-trust investigation of Qualcomm has come to an end with the US chip vendor making concessions in order control damage to its operations in the country. The fine for the company and its agreement to adjust licensing fees are expected to only have a limited impact on Qualcomm's revenues and gross margins. However, the cancellation of Qualcomm's patent cross-licensing agreements will come as an advantage for China vendors looking to expand the licensing businesses of their own

In an effort to secure TV panels in 2015 as supply will be limited, Korea-based TV vendors Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are each planning to outsource TV production orders to makers in Taiwan and China such as Compal and BOE who have relations with supply chain makers that can guarantee supply, according to Digitimes Research

Output value for the global IC foundry industry is forecast to reach US$54.8 billion in 2015, up 12% from US$49 billion in 2014, according to Digitimes Research

Google is planning to push 2-in-1 devices in 2015, according Digitimes Research's inquiries within the upstream supply chain. Google's 2-in-1 Chromebook designed by Quanta Computer is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter

Taiwan-based ODMs shipped 21.90 million LCD monitors in the fourth quarter of 2014, decreasing 1.2% sequentially and 10.5% on year, according to Digitimes Research

Taiwan-based TFT-LCD panel makers shipped 356.472 million small- to medium-size panels in the fourth quarter of 2014, growing 8.1% on quarter but dipping 3.3% on year, according to Digitimes Research

Korea-based vendors who have adopted a one-stop business model for their LCD TV business have recently placed some strategic orders with outside ODMs for 2015. Samsung Electronics has outsourced production to China panel maker BOE's TV manufacturing subsidiary Beijing BOE Multimedia Technology, while LG Electronics has outsourced some of its LCD TV models for the North America market to Compal Electronics

Taiwan-based brand vendors and ODMs will ship a total of 18.05 million handsets in the first quarter of 2015, down 29.4% on quarter but up 11.2% on year, according to Digitimes Research

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in January 2015 announced new five-year strategies for robot development, with a goal of attaining a domestic market value of JPY2.4 trillion (US$20.5 billion) for robot applications by fiscal year (FY) 2020 (April 2020-March 2021), according to Digitimes Research

Global demand for LCD TV panels in terms of total area in 2015 is estimated at 126.107 million square meters, increasing on year by 11.2%, according to Digitimes Research