Broadcom CEO Hock Tan stood somewhat apart from other chipmakers when he expressed guarded optimism on a call Thursday for fiscal Q3 ended Aug. 1 that his company’s supply will meet demand into 2022. Broadcom has “a pretty good supply availability lineup for 2022, and we feel pretty OK about that,” said Tan. “I won't say great, but in this environment, all things considered, we're feeling quite good.” Tan wouldn’t bite when asked about industry speculation that Broadcom’s top wafer supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., would soon impose substantial price increases. TSMC didn't comment Friday. Q3 Broadcom revenue of $910 million in fiscal Q3 grew 23% year on year, fueled mainly by the “2X growth” in Wi-Fi 6E deployments, plus double-digit increases in “next-generation fiber,” said Tan. “We see service providers like AT&T, British Telecom, and even Deutsche Telekom, deploying in increasing volumes next-generation last-mile fiber connectivity to homes in the U.S. and globally.”

The House should pass legislation funding bills for addressing the semiconductor shortage “as soon as possible,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Thursday. He responded to reports that General Motors “plans to halt production temporarily at nearly all North American plants due to the shortage” of chips. He urged passage of S-1260, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (see 2106080074), which would fund Warner’s Chips for America Act.

Arizona and Georgia will be the first states to let residents add their driver’s license or state Identification to Apple Wallet on an iPhone or Watch, said the tech company Wednesday. Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma and Utah are next. The Transportation Security Administration also will enable select airport security checkpoints so travelers can use their driver’s license or state ID in Wallet. Apple and the issuing states won’t know when or where users present their IDs, said the company, and customers’ identity data is encrypted.

Global wearables shipments grew 32% year over year to 114.2 million in Q2, as hearables and smartwatches each grew 39%, said IDC Tuesday. Wristband trackers remained flat, it said, due to a lack of notable product launches in recent quarters and consumers' continued transition to smartwatches. The $200-$300 smartwatch segment gained 10 percentage points year on year, driven by demand for the Apple Watch SE and Series 3, Fitbit Versa 3 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2, said analyst Jitesh Ubrani. Apple led the market with 28.2% share on 32.2 million shipments, but growth slowed to 9.3% year on year on an “aging product lineup” and tough comparable sales vs. a Q2 2020 surge, said IDC. Fourth-place Samsung followed Xiaomi and Huawei, with 8.5% share and shipments of 9.7 million as it has secured a spot as the “de facto choice of wearables for Android users.” India-based boAt, Huawei, JBL and JLab Audio buoyed the sub-$100 hearables category with premium features including active noise cancellation. A good-better-best portfolio strategy with staggered price points allowed companies to reach more customers, said analyst Ramon Llamas. High-end features will continue to make their way to mid-tier and mainstream products, said Llamas, which will “lure people to upgrade or purchase their first devices.”

Valens Semiconductor, originator of the HDBaseT high-speed connectivity standard for home theater and autonomous vehicles, said the SEC declared effective its registration statement to combine with special purpose acquisition company PTK and take itself public on the New York Stock Exchange. A special meeting of PTK's shareholders is Sept. 28 to ratify the $1.16 billion combination, which was first announced in May (see 2105250023). Valens still expects the transaction to close by fall, it said Monday.

Samsung is doing a “thorough investigation” into reports a Galaxy A21 smartphone caught fire aboard an Alaska Airlines flight Monday, the company emailed Wednesday, calling safety a “top priority.” A Tuesday Verge article reported the incident, said to involve a Galaxy A21, though a spokesperson for the Port of Seattle said the phone was “burned beyond recognition.” An Alaska Airlines spokesperson told The Verge the plane’s crew used fire extinguishers and a battery containment bag to “stop the phone from smoking.” Passengers were evacuated from the plane via slides “due to hazy conditions inside the cabin,” and two were treated at a local hospital, said the report.

CTA will require CES 2022 participants to show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations to attend the Jan. 5-8 event in person at the Las Vegas Convention Center, said the association Tuesday.

Samsung’s Google-enabled Galaxy Watch 4 series, unveiled Wednesday, will give Samsung and Google “a real shot at the wearables market,” emailed GlobalData analyst Anisha Bhatia on Wednesday after the tech company’s Unpacked event. GlobalData pegs the wearables market value at $64 billion by 2030. As the first device to combine Google’s Wear operating system and Samsung’s Tizen smartwatch platforms, the Galaxy Watch 4 will bring increased developer and app support for Samsung and hardware expertise to Google. That’s a “a win-win” for both companies, as they try to break Apple’s “stranglehold” on the smartwatch market, said the analyst. A partnership with Google also expands Samsung’s smartwatches to other Android phones, giving Samsung a way to appeal to the non-Apple customer base, she said.

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.