Chipset makers are beginning to notice a serious boost in terms of sequential growth, which is expected to continue through quarter two, thanks to an uptick in sales from Chinese handset manufacturers. That’s been helpful for two companies, in particular, according to recent reports. For MediaTek, March revenues jumped by just over 58-percent – landing at around $688.1 million. FocalTech Systems, a provider of LCD driver IC solutions, saw its own revenues for the same period rise to just short of $39.6 million. That’s a record-setting revenue for the latter company. For now, the majority of that revenue has come from companies such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Each of those four companies – which account for around 70-percent of the Chinese smartphone market – has recently increased production to meet the demand for new devices.
Over the rest of 2018, growth in chip sales for the two companies is expected to continue and, for the most part, is expected to be built on deliveries to the same four OEMs. However, market watchdogs and even the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showing that smartphone shipments in the region had dropped by 27-percent from the previous year during 2018’s first quarter. It’s not clear whether or not that trend will change, although a rebound in smartphone sales wouldn’t be unusual either. With that said, these numbers appear to mostly follow in that trend of growth following a drop.
In the meantime, Smartphone sales summarily have continued to grow in several other regions. So the new expected growth in overall performance for the chip makers over 2018 could very well originate outside of China, even if the phones are made there. India, for one example, may help bolster the companies against any shortcomings in other regions. However, each of those Chinese handset makers is also beginning further pushes outside of the Asia markets as well. Whether or not the positive growth ultimately stays around for the long term, of course, remains to be seen. In either case, the recent quick upturn will almost certainly be useful in preventing too much damage from any further lull in performance over the coming months.