Universal Electronics Inc. is the latest tech company hit by the chip crunch, affecting order fulfillment of Nevo Butler, UEI’s white-label, voice-enabled smart home and entertainment control hub. Shortages affected shipments for a major European telco, CEO Paul Arling told investors Thursday. Q2 revenue was $150.5 million, vs. $153.1 million in the 2020 quarter. Guidance for Q3 is a year-over-year rise. Meanwhile, platforms like Apple TV Video Partner Program are the future for all types of MVPDs, which “now understand that the consumer wants that combination of everything they want to watch,” Arling said. Subscribers want local sports, reality TV programing and to binge-watch a favorite show streamed on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu -- “or name your favorite service.” Larger MVPDs can build platforms, he said, citing Comcast’s X1, which Cox adopted. Medium- to smaller-sized MVPDs “probably will find it better to borrow one of the other industry platforms,” he said, naming Android and TiVo in addition to Apple. Broadband operators are increasingly introducing IP-only or streaming set-top boxes, Arling said, citing Comcast Flex, DirecTV Stream and TiVo Stream. See Q2 materials here and here and our report on the company's Roku patent fight 2108060032. UEI stock closed up 7.4 Friday at $48.03.

Semiconductor demand “continues to outpace supply,” and Himax Technologies believes the “imbalance” could last “well into 2022,” said CEO Jordan Wu on a Q2 call Thursday. Himax supplies display-driver chips to TV, laptop, tablet and smartphone panel makers. Foundries are running at “more than full capacity,” but demand “shows no indication of abating,” said Wu. “We have entered into strategic agreements with foundry partners to cover both our short-term and long-term needs. We are in the process of entering into further such agreements as we speak, with some of them involving new foundry partners, leaving nothing untried to expand our capacity pool.” Himax projects Q3 revenue from large display-driver chips will increase more than 30% sequentially, said Wu. The monitor and notebook display businesses are expected to post double-digit growth, “benefiting from remote work and online schooling trends,” he said. For the TV segment, “we expect over 20% sequential growth in Q3, anchored by higher-end and larger-sized TVs, despite the slight dip in worldwide TV shipments anticipated for the second half,” he said.

Qualcomm wants to outbid Magna International and buy Veoneer for $37 a share in an all-cash $4.6 billion transaction that would bring a “competitive and open” combined advanced driver assistance systems platform to automakers and tier 1 suppliers “at scale,” said Qualcomm Thursday. Magna and Veoneer announced a definitive agreement July 22 for Magna to buy Veoneer for $31.25 a share in a $3.8 billion cash deal. Qualcomm “continues to see traction in automotive, with a revenue-design win pipeline of approximately $10 billion,” it said now. Qualcomm’s board unanimously ratified the Veoneer offer, but Qualcomm shareholder approval won’t be required, it said. Veoneer and Magna didn’t respond to queries Thursday.

Global 5G network infrastructure revenue is on pace to top $19.1 billion in 2021, up 39% from 2020, reported Gartner Wednesday. Communications service providers in mature markets accelerated 5G development in 2020-21, with 5G generating 39% of wireless infrastructure revenue this year. “The COVID-19 pandemic spiked demand for optimized and ultrafast broadband connectivity to support work-from-home and bandwidth-hungry applications,” said analyst Michael Porowski. Of segments comprising wireless infrastructure in Gartner’s forecast, 5G is “the only significant opportunity,” said the company. “Investment in legacy wireless generations is rapidly deteriorating.”

Revenue from June semiconductor sales jumped 29.2% globally to $44.5 billion and increased 2.1% sequentially from May, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. Q2 revenue of $133.6 billion was up 29.2% over 2020's second quarter and was 8.3% higher than in Q1, it said. “Demand for semiconductors is projected to continue to rise substantially in the long term, as the world continues using chips to become smarter, greener, more productive, and better connected,” said SIA CEO John Neuffer. Year-over-year June revenue increased 43.2% in Europe, 34% in Asia Pacific, 28.3% in China, 22.9% in the Americas and 21.2% in Japan, said SIA.

Revenue from Tower Semiconductor sales of RF silicon-on-insulator smartphone components increased 40% year over year in Q2 on surging consumer demand for 5G handsets, said CEO Russell Ellwanger on an earnings call Monday. Shipments of 5G smartphones are expected to double this year compared with 2020, reaching 550 million handsets globally out of a total of about 1.3 billion, he said. “This shift, combined with the high content increase of 5G and our strong position in this market, fuels our continued growth,” he said. “The shift to more advanced and higher-value 5G technology is helping increase the average selling prices in this segment. This trend is expected to continue for at least the next several quarters.”

Samsung’s “mild growth” in smartphone shipments in Q2, growing 5.6% to 57.3 million, was due to supply constraints of key components and reduced operations at production facilities due to the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 in India and Vietnam, said Omdia Thursday. The global smartphone market grew 6.9% year on year to 299.1 million units, said the research firm. First-half shipments were up 17.4% to 651.8 million vs. the first six months of 2020, it said. Xiaomi took No. 2 for the first time, shipping 49.9 million units, a 73% bump, for 17% share. Samsung held No. 1 with 19% share; Apple, with 42.9 million shipments, had 16%, it said, followed by oppo and vivo, each with 11%. In Q3, global smartphone shipments are expected to turn to negative growth vs. the 2020 quarter due to continued supply shortages and reduced demand, said analyst Jusy Hong.

Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su is “quite pleased” with progress her company is making to increase supply amid the strong “semiconductor demand environment,” she said on a Q2 call Tuesday. “We've been working on supply for the past couple of quarters,” she said. “We do see some level of constraints, but we are making progress each quarter,” enough so AMD exceeded its revenue guidance for the quarter, she said. Supply is “tight, like you've heard from many other companies, through the end of this year,” but capacity “improves in 2022,” said Su: “We do have confidence that we can continue to grow substantially as we go into the second half of this year and into 2022 with the supply chain.” The stock closed 7.6% higher Wednesday at $97.93.

Shipments of foldable displays for smartphones and notebook PCs will grow from 9.3 million units this year to 61.7 million in 2028, Omdia emailed Wednesday. Foldables' share of the segment will increase from 2.3% to 9.6%, it said. The 6.x-inch class will be the mainstream size for clamshell-type smartphones through 2028 due to its “attractive, compact design and relatively affordable price,” said the research firm. Low-temperature polycrystalline oxide will be the mainstream backplane technology for manufacturing foldable displays due to its lower power consumption, but LTPS will remain the alternative because of its cost advantage, Omdia said.

CTA announced T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert as its first CES 2022 keynoter, a year after picking Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg as the first keynoter for virtual CES 2021. Sievert “will discuss 5G innovations for consumers, businesses and thought leadership,” and how 5G advancements will enable people “to work, communicate and learn more efficiently,” said CTA Tuesday. A spokesperson confirmed Sievert will be in-person on the Las Vegas keynote stage.