Chip manufacturers look upon 5G phones to save the chip market

The coronavirus pandemic is still raging and countries are in lockdown, which, understandably, drives smartphone sales down. In consequence, chip manufacturers reportedly also suffer. According to Digitimes, however, 5G phones are crucial for the recovery of the 2020 market.

Chip manufacturers expect 2020 to have a multitude of new 5G smartphone models, and the 5G-capable iPhones are set to drive the demand even higher. Unfortunately though, suppliers for smartphone parts are concerned whether all those upcoming 5G phones will really be on schedule. Especially for iPhones, production of chips and other components is expected to kick off by June 2020 in order to match the September release time.

However, people are getting uncertain whether Apple will keep the September release timeframe, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the consequential weaker market demand, or decide to postpone the new announcement.

Taiwan-based manufacturers have not been completely left out without any market demand. In the current lockdown times, demand for notebooks, servers and network gear has been increasing as people work and study remotely. Semiconductor manufacturers, focused on network gear, base stations and infrastructure, such as Taiwan-based WPG or WT Microelectronics saw March revenues surging because of the growing demand.