1. China's smart speakers are still in their infancy, and 40% of U.S. users have considered buying a second one; According to Weibo News, the latest survey by Edison Research, a national public radio station and market research company, shows that the proportion of American adults owning smart speakers has reached 16%, a jump of 128% from January last year. At present, from the perspective of the entire smart speaker market, foreign markets are relatively mature, and foreign technology giants such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Apple all participate. Although the domestic market is in the early stages of development, it has also attracted a large number of domestic Internet / technology giants. Such as BAT, JD.com, Xiaomi, Lenovo, etc., many more small and medium-sized enterprises have entered the game, intuitively reflecting the optimistic view of the smart speaker market prospects. In the foreign market, Amazon Echo has sold more than 10 million units since its release more than two years ago, and market sales have exceeded $ 1 billion. Analysts at the investment agency Morgan Stanley called smart speakers "the most successful consumer electronics" after the iPad. After the smart speaker products of Google, Apple, Facebook and other giants were unveiled, some organizations predicted that smart speakers will cover 75% of American households in 2020, reaching 94.2 million units. In China, technology giants and artificial intelligence startups have deployed this market one after another. Alibaba released "Tmall Genie", HKUST Xunfei and JD.com established Linglong Technology and released "Dingdong Speaker", Lenovo launched "Lenovo Smart Speaker", Xiaomi launched "Xiaomi AI Speaker" with Google investment Background startups went out to ask and also released "Ask Speaker". Judging from the shipments of smart speakers in 2017, the entire market has begun to take shape. According to the latest data from Canalys, the shipment of smart speakers exceeded 30 million units in 2017, and the global shipment of smart speakers is expected to reach 56.3 million units in 2018, which will be a "decisive year" for popularizing smart speakers. 2. Foreign media: NAND Flash price drop scares investors; According to Reuters, after a year-and-a-half-year surge, the prices of some memory chips have suddenly dropped. After that, South Korea ’s Samsung Electronics released a disappointing 2017 profit forecast, allowing those betting that the chip boom will continue for at least at least. Investors for a year felt uneasy. 3. The TSMC Law said it will focus on 7-nanometer total revenue this year is expected to exceed trillions; A power cord, line cord, or mains cable is an electrical cable that temporarily connects an appliance to the mains electricity supply via a wall socket or extension cord. The terms are generally used for cables using a power plug to connect to a single-phase alternating current power source at the local line voltage-(generally 100 to 240 volts, depending on the location). The terms power cable, mains lead, flex or kettle lead are also used. A lamp cord (also known as a zip cord) is a light-weight, ungrounded, single-insulated two-wire cord used for small loads such as a table or floor lamp. Power Cord,Home Appliance Power Cord,Power Cable Cord Dongguan YAC Electric Co,. LTD. , https://www.yacentercns.com
According to phonearena, the smart speaker combines audio and artificial intelligence and was pioneered by Amazon. Although it was less than three years old, it has become an indispensable part of American households. 65% of the users surveyed do not want to return to the absence of smart speakers life.
The survey shows that 34% of users use smart speakers to listen to the radio, this part of the time to replace smart phones. Another 30% of users use it while watching TV.
Switching lights on smart speakers, controlling room temperature and other home appliances is one of the biggest reasons to buy smart speakers. The survey even found that 38% of users consider buying a second smart speaker for other rooms or controlling more appliances .
The technology consulting agency Accenture / Harris InteracTIve recently announced that online interviews also found that after two-thirds of respondents have a smart speaker, they will reduce the time they use their phones.
Youjie Jie, the general manager of MediaTek's home entertainment product business group, told Jiwei that the sales volume of the smart speaker market in the previous year (2016) was only 3 million units, and the explosive growth last year was 10 times to 30 million units.
There is news that the chip market has begun to lose some momentum. The price of high-end flash memory chips widely used in smartphones fell by nearly 5% in the fourth quarter of 2017, and some analysts currently expect the industry's growth rate to fall by more than half to 30% this year.
This caused Samsung Electronics ’share price to fall 7.5% last week, and its local rival SK Hynix shares fell 6.2%. But analysts believe that a sudden crash is unlikely. For chipmakers, 2018 should be a relatively stable year.
The memory chip industry has reached US $ 122 billion. It has experienced an unprecedented prosperity since mid-2016, with a growth rate of nearly 70% in 2017 alone, thanks to the strong growth of smartphones and cloud services. Powerful chip that can store more data.
After years of industry consolidation, the number of practitioners has fallen from around 20 in the 1990s to a few, and chip supply has become more compliant.
"If the demand remains strong but the demand for servers (servers) remains unchanged, then the price of memory chips may gradually decline in 2018," said Lee Jae-yun, an analyst at Yuanta Korea.
However, in this industry, which has always been volatile, the growth rate of 30% is still quite good; following a 6% contraction in 2016, the market is still in the longest period of prosperity in history.
Analysts said the explosive growth last year gave chipmakers cash to reinvest to increase output. Nomura estimates that the performance of NAND flash memory chips is outstanding, and the supply of this year will increase by 43%, faster than last year ’s 34%, which may lead to a price drop of about 10%.
Nomura expects that the increase in chip output will basically be led by Western Digital, Toshiba and Micron. These players are trying to catch up with Samsung, the number one chip maker. Samsung currently controls about 40% of the flash memory chip market.
The outlook is not gloomy
Analysts said that smartphone vendors have been expanding mobile phone memory and increasing mobile phone prices, which allows them to cope with the surge in memory stick prices last year.
The BNP Paribas analysis report shows that the new DRAM memory released last quarter increased by an average of 38% over the second quarter of 2016, and the NAND content measured in gigabytes jumped by 84%.
Analysts say such strong demand will keep the industry's profit margins stable this year, and chipmakers investing in more advanced technologies will help reduce production costs and maintain profitability even if prices fall.
Macquarie estimates that the operating profit margin of Samsung ’s chip division jumped from 26.5% in 2016 to 47% last year, and is expected to rise to 55.5% this year.
Although the NAND flash memory market may weaken, the DRAM memory chip market, which is about $ 20 billion more than the NAND business, is expected to tighten significantly. Affected by the severe shortage of supply, prices are expected to rise by nearly 9%.
According to Nomura, as DRAM makers are busy increasing production, prices may fall as much as 18% next year. These manufacturers may increase their capital expenditures from US $ 10 billion in 2016 to a total of US $ 38 billion in 2017 and 2018.
This has given some investors confidence in the industry ’s long-term prospects.
"Except for some minor adjustments, my current Samsung shareholdings have remained almost unchanged," said IBK Asset Management fund manager Kim Hyun-su. "I don't think the stock price is expensive because they have raised their dividends a lot recently, and So far, the expected profit level is quite high. "
Pressure from customers
Smartphone manufacturers account for about one-third of global memory chip demand, and many manufacturers have been pressing suppliers to lower prices.
At the end of December, China Daily reported that the National Development and Reform Commission is paying close attention to the recent surge in the price of mobile phone memory chips, or will investigate possible company price manipulation.
According to DRAMeXchange, which tracks chip prices, more than 50% of Samsung Electronics' memory business revenue in 2017 came from China.
"Although the supply and demand dynamics are still stable, the pressure from customers to reduce prices makes the (future) situation unpredictable," said Samsung Securities analyst MS Hwang. Sina US stocks