ITRI noted that as a result of improved prosperity and the performance of vendors continually increasing in 2017, their positive performance has continued in 2018, and passive components have experienced the most growth with an increase of 30.7% from last year. However, LEDs were affected by an imbalance in supply and demand which brought about a decline in sales values.

ITRI predicts that through innovation in smart technology, the layout of competition in the components industry will be rapidly reorganized. Furthermore, the explosive growth of AI sensor applications, rapid competition among 5G companies in shifting to new applications, and rapid changes in the appearance of smart human network interfaces will drive the rapid arrival of new component applications in smart homes, smart components, smart manufacturing, healthcare, driverless vehicles, and smart spaces. They will also affect the direction of trends in display, sensor, and electronics component industries.

Looking forward to 2019, ITRI made the observation that in addition to the entire series of iPhone and iPad mobile phones and tablets entering into 3D sensor Face ID, Mainland Chinese cell phone manufacturers will also follow up with plans to enter into more 3D sensor functions.

In the future, smart home and smart component vendors will also enter into a variety of innovative applications in 3D image and voice controlled assistants, 3D facial recognition / self-propelled cars / virtual clothing and shoe measurement, and 3D Vision+Robot+AI/3D AOI. ITRI anticipates that in the near future there will also be an explosion of even greater market momentum which will sweep across the B2C and B2B markets and generate considerable opportunities for applications, and Asian companies in Taiwan, Japan, and Mainland China will observe these trends and develop even more active layouts.

(TR/ Phil Sweeney)