​Chinese TV brand Konka (000016.CH) announced last month that it will release the world’s first micro-LED watch, the APHAEA, with a 2” screen on a glass substrate.  The LED chip size is less than 30um, which means it qualifies as a micro-LED, and it uses an LTPS active matrix driver, similar to those used in larger displays.  The price was not given.  Konka has developed its own micro-LED chip production and has also released micro-LED product that is similar to the modular systems developed by Samsung and LG, and is looking to become a world leader in the micro-LED space.  By leapfrogging many others who are dedicated to developing micro-LED products, Konka has at least established itself as a potential player in what will be a developing space over the next few years. 
We should get a few more details about the watch and Konka’s micro-LED development program at the 2021 virtual CES later this month however that could be overshadowed by Sony (SNE), who is expected to begin to reveal its latest micro-LED technology, and given its very early entry into what would be the precursor to the micro-LED display market, the Crystal LED display ‘released’ in 2012, and its staggering 790” (yes) ‘home’ display (~$5.76m), the odds are most will be watching Sony’s release.  Again, we note that micro-LED, in any real consumer sense, is still a few years away, but each year there will be a  few more demos and ‘potential’ products, with an emphasis on small displays that would be somewhat more practical from a cost perspective that applying the technology to large screen devices.

​The Federal Communications Commission has amended its rules to limit the number of robocalls made to home phones by exempt organizations (tax-exempt non-profits, non-telemarketing robocalls) to three per month and such callers are now also required to allow consumers to opt out of such calls, which they were unable to do previously.  The rules also require terminating voice service providers to ensure that their networks are not being used for illegal robocalls by ‘affirmative action’ when notified by the commission of same, and will be required to aid the FCC and law enforcement efforts to identify the providers that originate the illegal calls.  The rules take it one step further and expands the safe harbors for providers that block identified illegal calls without the consumer having to opt in.  Unfortunately, to qualify for safe harbors, providers must ‘target only calls highly likely to be illegal, while providing sufficient human oversight and network monitoring to ensure that blocking is working as intended’, which leaves quite a bit open to interpretation.
While we certainly applaud the FCC’s new rules regarding Robocalls, we believe they will still do little to reduce the number of illegal Robocalls that households receive daily.  As more sophisticated caller ID spoofing gives RoboCallers a way to make consumers think that they are getting a local call rather than a RoboCall, by the time the number is reported the RoboCallers have spoofed another number.  The only way to end the practice is to have the end provider trace the originating network source, which is likely outside of the US, and therefore a difficult target for US authorities, unless they are willing to take up each problem with the local authorities, which would take manpower and legal resources far greater than the government is willing to allocate.  Until then, don’t pick up the phone unless you know who the caller is, unless you are interested in extending the warranty of your vehicle or getting that ‘free’ vacation to the Bahamas…

​Samsung Display (pvt) said it intends to expand its line of OLED Notebook display in 2021 to include 10 models and is targeting sales of 5x the number of OLED Notebook panels it sold in 2020 as the company expects demand for notebooks to continue to expand.  The initial additions will be a 15.6” OLED notebook display to be released in February, which follows up the release of a 13.3” model last year.  SDC’s OLED notebook displays have been used in HP’s (HPE) Spectre x360 (~$1,200), the ASUS (2357.TT) ZenBook Pro 581 (15.6” - ~$2,200 – Dual Screen), the Razer (1337.HK) Blade Stealth 13 (~$1,999), Dell (DELL) 2020 G7 ($1,900), and the Alienware m15 R3, among others.
The first OLED based laptop was released in 2019 based on a Samsung Display OLED 15.6” screen, but have been limited to high-end models due to the higher cost of production vs. LCD displays.  We have located about 25 models that were released in 2019/2020 or about to be released this year, many of which are oriented toward gaming, where the higher price ranging from ~$700 to ~$3,300, is a given.  We expect SDC has accounted for almost all OLED notebook displays produced in 2020, although EverDisplay (182522.CH) is also producing small quantities and BOE (200725.CH) was expected to introduce a few OLED notebook panels last year, having shown a 14” OLED prototype in August, but has yet to enter full scale production.  LG Display has produced a 13.3” foldable OLED display for Lenovo, but it seems that Samsung Display is set to dominate the space again in 2021.
While the OLED notebook market is relatively small, likely under 4m in 2020, every 13” OLED notebook panel, which is the smallest size for a laptop, uses ~72 in2 of panel capacity relative to a 9:19 6” smartphone that uses 13.9 in2, or 1/5th the capacity.  If Samsun Display is able to generate sufficient volume with the new models in 2021, it can increase its rigid OLED utilization and increase its value/in2.  SDC competes with a number of smartphone OLED panel producers, and while they are dominant in the flexible OLED display market, the rigid OLED display market has become increasingly more price competitive over the last two years, and higher margin products from those lines will help to increase overall OLED display margins across all of the SDC OLED fabs.
https://youtu.be/J1Od-r0k-fY?list=RDCMUCj6n9wBH-xl2lC66ohVlK7A – Samsung Display Laptop Video (ctl+Click)

​While one would expect the CEO of Huawei’s biggest competitor to be elated that the country has banned Huawei’s 5G equipment from its network, such is not the case.  The CEO of Ericsson (ERIC), Huawei’s closest competitor, has supported Huawei publicly a number of times and the most recent comment in a text to the Swedish Minister of Commerce, he stated that “If the Huawei ban continues to exist, Ericsson will leave Sweden”.  Back in October of last year the Swedish Postal & Telecommunication Administration banned companies participating in 5G spectrum auctions from using Huawei equipment (and ZTE (000063.CH)) on ‘security grounds’, which Huawei appealed, but was rejected by the Court of Appeals, which triggered a resumption in spectrum auctions later this month.
Ericsson’s concern over the ban of its competitor stems not from the Swedish 5G market, but from its share of the Chinese 5G market, where Ericsson holds a 10% share of the world’s largest 5G market, which holds a particular sensitivity to those countries that punish their local brethren.  Comments by various officials in China, particularly Ericsson subcontractors seem to support the idea that the decision by the Swedish government was not a good one and did not support competition.  According to the Swedish government, the ban cannot be lifted because the decision was made by ‘the temporary secretariat of the Swedish Post & Telecommunication Administration, based on the recommendation of the security department and the Armed Forces”, whatever that means.

​Last October we mentioned the problems South Korean MLCC supplier Amotech (052710.KS) was facing as COVID-19 slowed the development of their MLCC line, but the pandemic also slowed the rate at which 5G was being deployed in China, the company’s target market.  Among those MLCC customers was Huawei (pvt), whose problems with US trade sanctions reduced demand for its 5G smartphones and base stations, which are large consumers of MLCCs, and the company faced a loss in 1H ’20.  Other Chinese customers have been testing the product, as a way to avoid using US MLCC manufacturers, which should help the company in the long run, but MLCC sales were pushed from 1H to 4Q or 1Q ’21. 
As it turns out, Amotech’s MLCCs have now received approval from Samsung Electronics’ (005930.KS) network business, which opens a path for the company to become a supplier in the future.   Samsung affiliate Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150.KS) is also a producer of MLCCs, among the largest in the segment, which makes it unusual for Samsung to be potentially adding a supplier, especially when it has Japan’s Murata (6981.JP) as a 2nd source, but there is a reason.  Most MLCC’s are constructed using base metal electrodes, usually nickel or copper, but Amotech specializes in MLCCs that use precious metal electrodes, usually silver or palladium, which tend to be more effective at higher frequencies and are considered the most reliable of the two types (used in many aerospace applications).
PME MLCCs are also more expensive and somewhat limited in the number of layers (“Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitors”), but have very low resistance and low power dissipation, so they are ideal for 5G and other RF applications such as medical devices.  , but most important is that Samsung Electro-Mechanics does not produce PME MLCCs, leaving an opening for Amotech.  They will still have to compete with Murata, Yageo (2327.TT), and AVX (6971.JP), but getting through qualification at Samsung is a plus for the company which has faced losses again in 3Q as its other component sales to Samsung saw weaker than expected smartphone sales from the COVID-19 pandemic and some price cuts for its other products.  All in, it’s a positive for a new MLCC player, after Huawei’s issues, but they will have to now strike a real deal with Samsung sometime this year before they can consider themselves in the Samsung supply chain.