Paul Gluckman

Smartphones “more than ever” are an “essential source of social connection and streaming services for entertainment, fitness, gaming and music,” and 5G consumer adoption “remains the main driver for smartphones growth,” said STMicroelectronics CEO Jean-Marc Chery on a Q1 call. ST also experienced persistently strong Q1 demand for other connected devices, including wearables, tablets, hearables, true wireless stereo headsets and game consoles, he said. A factor in the worldwide shortage of chips is the semiconductor “content increase related to digitalization and electrification, as well as higher content in traditional cars, driven by accessories,” he said.

Qualcomm expects “material improvements” in semiconductor industry supply by calendar year-end, and “a much more favorable supply environment” in 2022, “due to planned capacity builds and multi-sourcing initiatives,” said President Cristiano Amon on a fiscal Q2 call Wednesday. “As one of the leading drivers of advanced semiconductor technology platforms, we’re also excited to see more foundry investment in the United States,” consistent with the “strategic priorities” of Joe Biden's presidency, he said. Some of those priorities were mentioned by Biden to Congress Wednesday; see our report here. The company continues experiencing “unprecedented demand across all of our technologies and businesses,” as the pandemic environment “is accelerating the scale of connectivity and processing at the edge,” said Amon. The “supply constraint” in semiconductors “is really across all product lines,” not “unique to one thing or the other,” like smartphones, said Amon. “It’s a good position to be in that we actually have more demand than supply across all of our business,” because it “gives us confidence” about Qualcomm’s “growth position,” he said. Amon succeeds retiring CEO Steve Mollenkopf June 30. Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala said Qualcomm stands by its February forecast that the industry will ship 450 million to 550 million 5G handsets globally in calendar 2021. Qualcomm estimates the industry shipped 225 million 5G smartphones worldwide in 2020. “Years of repressed refresh cycles with a boost from 5G” helped propel a 25.5% global increase in first-quarter smartphone shipments to 346 million handsets of all generations, reported IDC.

Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen let loose Thursday at T-Mobile and CEO Mike Sievert for their defense of plans to shut down the legacy CDMA wireless network by year-end (see Ref:2104140036]). T-Mobile’s potential to disenfranchise millions of customers makes the carrier comparable with the Grinch who stole Christmas, said Ergen on a Q1 call.

Months after committing that CES 2022 would return to the Las Vegas Convention Center Jan. 5-8 as a physical show with a digital component (see 2102070001), CTA announced just that in a Wednesday news release that appeared to break little new ground about the event’s format or expected participation. Among the few new disclosures was that the show's digital "anchor desk," which debuted at CES 2021 from a Microsoft studio in Redmond, Washington, will operate live from the LVCC and "connect the digital audience with exhibitors, conference sessions, keynotes and product announcements" from the in-person event. The association said it will be reviewing “coronavirus safety measures” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Nevada and Clark County authorities in planning and conducting the event. Under the plan that Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) announced in mid-February to hand off decisions on public gathering restrictions to local authorities (see 2102120057), Clark County's Southern Nevada Health District has jurisdiction for LVCC events. Roughly 1,000 exhibitors have booked CES 2022 space, and companies "are continuing to sign up," said CTA. This new announcement made no mention of Microsoft returning in its role as technology partner for the virtual component of CES 2022. The focus of this announcement was on the physical event, said a CTA spokesperson when we asked if Microsoft would return in its CES 2021 role or if the association put out a request for proposals to find a new partner. "We will be sharing more information about the digital event in June," she said. She confirmed that June 1 is the deadline for CES 2022 exhibitors to "cancel or downsize without penalty."

Cover glass on the back camera module of the Galaxy S20 smartphone is prone to sudden shattering “under normal use, with no external force applied,” rendering the camera “unusable,” but Samsung “did nothing to actually address or resolve” this despite hundreds of consumer complaints, alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Newark seeking class-action status. “Samsung has consistently denied responsibility, instead blaming consumers and refusing to repair or refund the devices,” while continuing to deny warranty claims, it said. “Having represented to consumers that the Galaxy S20 had a high-quality, professional-grade camera, Samsung was obligated to disclose that the exact opposite was true -- that the phone had a known material defect in the hardware.” No “reasonable consumer” would have bought or leased the phone “had they known of this glass shattering defect,” it said. The suit accuses Samsung of violating the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and breaching New Jersey consumer protection laws and other statutes. Samsung didn’t comment.

Industry semiconductor shortages are “really a long-term story,” certainly lasting into next year, said NXP Semiconductors CEO Kurt Sievers on a Q1 call. Intel and others say similar (see 2104230052). “One of the biggest learnings out of this current situation is to build much more transparency” into the supply chain, “knowing that we have a manufacturing cycle time of one to two quarters,” Sievers said Tuesday. “That work is underway."

Corning's quarterly optical communications sales of $937 million rose 18% from the year-ago period. “Sales were up in both enterprise and carrier networks, driven by the accelerated pace of data center builds and increased capital spending on network capacity expansion and fiber-to-the-home projects,” Chief Financial Officer Tony Tripeny told investors Tuesday. Profit in the sector of $111 million, up 283%, was driven by “incremental volume” increases and “strong cost performance,” he said. (See Q1 materials here.) It was the optical sector’s second straight quarter of profitability, and he said he's "confident" the trend will continue: “There are some extremely encouraging announcements coming from leading network operators, as well as governments around the world, that point to the start of a strong investment phase.” Fiber technology is penetrating wireless with 5G network deployments, said CEO Wendell Weeks. 3G and 4G transitions “historically” were “fiber-poor,” he said. “With 5G, those cells need to be so much closer to the consumer,” requiring more “densification,” he said. “That’s driving a lot more glass into the wireless network.” Whichever network wins the 5G race, it will be "glass-rich," said the CEO.

Apple misrepresents iPhones as water-resistant under International Electrotechnical Commission “ingress protection” (IP) standards, alleged a complaint (in Pacer, case No. 1:21-cv-03657) Saturday in U.S. Southern District Court in Manhattan. This seeks class-action status on behalf of iPhone owners in New York. Apple promoted the iPhone 8 as IEC-compliant for water resistance when exposed to or immersed in liquids at depths up to 1 meter for 30 minutes, said the lawsuit. The iPhone 11 is IEC-rated for water resistance at depths up to 4 meters, and the iPhone 12 at up to 6 meters, said the complaint. Bronx resident Antoinette Smith said her phone's "exposure to water of the type and manner contemplated by the device’s IP level caused damage to her device” under routine use. Apple denied her such warranty coverage, it said. She alleged fraud, unjust enrichment and violating the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Apple didn’t respond to questions Monday.

Unprecedented demand for semiconductors “stressed supply chains across the industry,” said new Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger on a Q1 call Thursday. “We have doubled our internal wafer capacity the last few years, but the industry is now challenged by a shortage of foundry capacity, substrates and components.” It will take “a couple of years for the ecosystem to make the significant investments to address these shortages,” said Gelsinger. The “integrated device manufacturing” plan he announced March 23 is designed to “provide the industry another source of foundry capacity,” he said. “We cannot do it alone,” said Gelsinger. “The investment needed at the scale required is immense, and it will require close industry and government partnership.” Intel is “encouraged” by President Joe Biden’s “recognition of semiconductor manufacturing as a critical component of our national infrastructure,” he said.

Netgear’s connected home segment generated net revenue of $240.9 million in Q1, up 46.3% year over year but down 18.6% sequentially from Q4, said Chief Financial Officer Bryan Murray on a quarterly call Wednesday. “Heightened demand” for Netgear’s “premium Wi-Fi 6 solutions” drove the growth, he said. Despite “supply headwinds” for Wi-Fi 6 products, Netgear gained 2 points in its top U.S. consumer Wi-Fi market share, to 43%, he said. “We fully expect we will continue to gain share in the second quarter, given the improved supply position in the channel.” The pandemic “has accelerated multiple years of technological progress into one year, and people adjusted surprisingly quickly to more time and activities from home,” said CEO Patrick Lo. “Highly reliable, high-speed internet connectivity that covers the entire home and even patio or yard has become a necessity. This spurred the rapid growth of the premium segment in home Wi-Fi, spearheaded by Wi-Fi 6 mesh with tri-band architecture.” Wi-Fi 6-based systems “fuel the work and do everything from home for families that need to cover large houses and supply reliable internet,” said Lo. “Given the demands all these activities put on home Wi-Fi, we see no slowdown in the demand for our products.” Premium tri-band Wi-Fi 6 had 30% of the U.S. Wi-Fi mesh market, rising from 25% in Q4 and 7% in Q1 2020, he said: “It garners the highest prices" with the "healthiest margins."