Intel Corp (INTC)

[Ideal_Inv]

New research into the 'white box tablet' market signals that Intel is in the ascendency in this industry while rivals such as MediaTek, Rockchip and Allwinner experience "dramatic declines".


If Digitimes is accurate about MediaTek, Rockchip, & Allwinner experiencing dramatic declines, what is the fallout for these companies and for TSMC?

MediaTek - HQ: Taiwan
Rockchip - HQ: China. Already in the Intel camp partially with Sofia.
Allwinner - HQ: China

Can they continue to re-invest at the same pace as before and compete? Likely not.

What is the sales impact to TSMC? Immediate impact could be low. Further, this could be partially mitigated by Intel fabbing its Sofia parts at TSMC. However, when Sofia is moved to Intel manufacturing (next year?), that revenue will go away for TSMC.

If MediaTek, Rockchip, and Allwinner continue to suffer market declines, both the volume and sales revenue losses will not bode well for TSMC's aspirations for smaller nodes.


While looking to validate Digitimes' information, I came across the following on MediaTek.
MediaTek announced some sizable declines in February:
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Taipei, March 6 (CNA) MediaTek Inc. (???), one of Taiwan's leading integrated circuit designers, said Friday that its sales in February fell to their lowest in 23 months because of the reduced number of working days during the month.

In a statement, MediaTek said it posted NT$9.67 billion (US$307 million) in consolidated sales for February, down 44.62 percent from a month earlier and also down 38.52 percent from a year earlier.

The February figure was the lowest level since March 2013, when it had sales of NT$9.43 billion.
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201503060022.aspx
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MediaTek posted NT$9.67 billion (US$307 million) in consolidated sales for February, the lowest level in nearly two years, which the company said was partly due to a lower number of working days in the month. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/business/2015/03/16/431193/MediaTek-remains.htm
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Couldn't find any recent sales information for Rockchip and Allwinner.
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Again, if Digitimes is fairly accurate about "dramatic declines" for these chipmakers, looks like the tide could be finally turning in favor of Intel.