HTC has signed an MoU with National Dong Hwa University in eastern Taiwan for setting up a VR talent cultivation center.HTC will provide expertise in commercial application of VR, and the university's Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering will be responsible for operating the center.The center's first project will be appliying VR to sight-seeing, arts, culture and education, with such VR content to be developed by students under professors' guidance, according to department chairman Chiang Cheng-chin.Along with fast growing use of 5G, demand for VR, AR, MR and XR will increase sharply, said HTC Taiwan president Darren Chen, adding HTC will enhance cooperation with the university by establishing a certification center for education and training regarding HTC Vive there.

For Chinese fabless IC vendors, tight foundry supply has been compounded by the fact that China-based SMIC has been blacklisted by the US. More Chinese IC vendors are now seeking support from Samsung for 14nm and above manufacturing processes. BT substrate supply has also become tight after a recent fire disrupted production at a major suppier, Unimicron. For ASE Technology, underlying the the recent supply-demand imbalance in the semiconductor sector are structural changes, apart from pandemic-driven needs. Samsung sees 14nm chip orders from China surge: Samsung Electronics has seen orders demanding 14nm and above processes ramp up from its China-based fabless clients recently, according to industry sources.Concerns rising over tight BT substrate supply for handset SoCs: Handset application processor vendors have expressed concerns about the supply of BT substrates that may fall due to the suspension of production at Unimicron Technology's fire-hit plant in northern Taiwan, and are moving to vie for more capacity support from other suppliers for 2021, according to industry sources.Pandemic-triggered structural changes: Q&A with ASE Technology COO Tien Wu: ASE Technology has turned optimistic about the IC backend industry prospects for the first half of 2021 with high capacity utilization to linger in diverse processes despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to company COO Tien Wu.

MediaTek is likely to report record sales for 2020, and the mobile SoC vendor is confident that its sales will grow further next year. MediaTek's chairman believes the global economy will recover and stimulate demand for handsets and termninal devices. For Taiwan's PCB makers, they may see more orders from Apple for flexible PCBs to be used in next-generation iPhones. And Semco reportedly plans to exit the rigid-flex PCB market segment, partly because demand from Apple may drop.MediaTek optimistic about 2021: MediaTek is confident its complete mobile SoC lineup will buoy its performance in 2021, according to company chairman Rick Tsai.Apple may rely more on Taiwan PCB suppliers in 2021: Apple is expected to ramp up flexible PCB (FPCB) demand for its 2021 devices, and is looking to work more closely with its Taiwan-based suppliers including Zhen Ding Technology, Compeq Manufacturing, Unimicron Technology and Career Technology, according to industry sources.Semco reportedly to exit rigid-flex PCB segment: Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) reportedly will phase out its rigid-flex PCB (RFPCB) business in 2021 amid unfavorable factors on both the supply and demand sides, according to industry sources.

As part of its continuing efforts to tackle rampant drug abuse problems in the country, the Taiwan government looks to further drive anti-drug campaigns engaging citizens, families and schools. In particular, to enable first-line defense in schools, the Taiwan government works with the Taiwan advanced instrument development program to create easy-to-use, portable and cost-effective drug testing instruments to help the police and front-line anti-drug teams carry out on-site investigations.Four research teams participating in the program developed four instruments which make up a complete solution package for drug testing. The viable and commercializable solution package overcomes the challenges in identifying new types of illegal substances.Raman microscopy helps front-line law enforcement quickly identify illegal drugsAt crime scenes where suspicious substances are found, the police often have to make a preliminary assessment on whether the substances are actually illegal drugs to prevent problems of false accusations. False positive assessments are particularly what they want to avoid.Raman microspectroscopy is an effective way to identify new types of drugs with constantly changing chemical compositions. However, a Raman microscope costs about NT$500,000 (US$17,534), which is a financial burden to law enforcement. In view of this, the team led by Ji-Yen Cheng developed a simple Raman microscope based on cost-effective 2D CMOS sensors and the team's own patented curvature gratings. The team hopes to make its simple Raman microscope available around NT$100,000.A smart saliva drug testing system serves as a convenient alternative to conventional urine drug testsThe team led by Cheng-Ying Chou, an associate professor at the Department of Biomechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University, developed a rapid saliva drug screening instrument that overcomes the disadvantages of urine drug tests. The smart testing solution can simultaneously identify multiple common illegal substances including amphetamine, heroin and ecstasy to allow a quick assessment of suspected drug abuse during a crackdown operation.Comprising a disposable saliva collection swab, a test kit and a portable analyzer device, the solution resolves the privacy concerns and inconveniences of traditional urine drug tests. It can also be customized to keep up with the changes in new types of drugs. It takes only ten minutes to complete multiple tests for different drugs. Not only can police officers obtain the test results in an instant but they can also print out the results for the test subject to verify and sign as evidence. This significantly reduces law enforcement officers' time and effort and expedites drug testing processes.Mobile terahertz (THz) scanner screens mail for campus drug preventionTo help combat drug trafficking through the mail network in the country, the team led by Yu-Tai Li at Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) incorporates THz imaging onto a portable biological imaging device to scan lightweight materials such as clothing, mails and plastics without radiation exposure.Comprising an automatic feeder, a sorting apparatus and a terahertz imaging device, the system automatically processes large amounts of mails loaded on a conveyor belt and screens out suspicious articles using AI-based image recognition, which are then further identified and sorted based on the types of contrabands. The entirely automated process can ease the burden on anti-drug teams and narcotics detection dogs that have to inspect enormous volumes of mails.Portable mass spectrometer and liquid chromatography system have tremendous market potentialLiquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS) is essential to nearly all chemical analysis. It also serves as the critical final step in confirming drug addiction. However, these devices come with a typical price tag around US$1 million. The team led by Sinica academician Chung-Hsuan Chen is committed to developing an innovative portable LCMS that features with lightweight, easy-to-use,low-cost and capability to do in-situ real-time analysis. The team has also made portable liquid chromatography and portable mass spectrometer as two independent instruments that can be flexibly used by different types of fields and applications to obtain optimal marketability.The four different portable instruments performing particle analysis, microspectroscopy or antibody screening for drug detection can effectively and significantly reduce false negatives and false positives. Chen calls on the Taiwan government to legalize saliva drug testing to facilitate the commercialization of saliva drug testing solutions and attract investments. These innovative solutions are instrumental to drug prevention as they enable quick and efficient drug testing.Sinica academician Chung-Hsuan ChenJi-Yen Cheng, research fellow, Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia SinicaCheng-Ying Chou, associate professor, National Taiwan UniversityPhotos: Sandy Du, Digitimes, October 2020

Demand for industrial automation and smart manufacturing in Vietnam has been growing fast due to surging foreign investment in the country's manufacturing sector, according to industry sources.Many manufacturers are relocating from China to Vietnam partly because of the convenience of transporting components/materials from China to Vietnam by land instead of by sea, the sources said.The coming of more manufacturers will push Vietnam towards industrial automation and smart manufacturing, according to Nguyen Quan, chairman for Vietnam Automation Association. The first priority is to help manufacturers introduce robots and AI-based smart manufacturing equipment to upgrade production, Nguyen said.

TSMC has seen strong demand for both of its advanced and mature manufacturing processes. Its 28nm node supply may become even tighter, as a Korean client is in talks with TSMC seeking to make its OLED driver ICs using the foundry's 28nm high-voltage process. In the semiconductor sector, power devices vendors are optimistic about demand from carmakers, bolstered by Infineon's upcoming capacity expansion in China targeting the EV market. And Chinese vendor Huawei is selling its Honor handset brand, as it seeks to survive the US trade ban.TSMC in talks for new orders for OLED driver IC: TSMC is in talks with a Korean client for manufacturing OLED driver ICs using the foundry's 28nm high-voltage process, according to industry sources.Taiwan power devices vendors upbeat about car applications in 2021: Taiwan's discrete power component supply chain players are optimistic that demand for automotive applications will pick up steadily in 2021 after staying stagnant for quarters, with their optimism bolstered by Infineon's increased focus on electric vehicles (EV) and upcoming capacity expansion in China, according to supply chain sources.Huawei to sell budget phone brand to mitigate impact of US trade ban: Huawei is selling its Honor brand smartphone business unit to a Chinese government-backed consortium, hiving off the entry-level handset arm to ensure the survival of its consumer business amid the US trade ban.

Connectivity has become an essential commodity that determines how people live, work and play, according to John Mathew, co-founder and CEO/CTA of Cavli Wireless, an Internet of Things (IoT) module company that works with telecom operators to provision local IoT data in LTE/LPWAN technologies like NB-IoT, LTE-M on eSIM technology.Mathew believes connecting every object in the physical world to the Internet will solve a variety of problems and improve quality of life and human productivity - which he describes as the "true power" of IoT. In an email interview conducted by Digitimes recently, he talks about the company's innovative solutions and how he sees future trends and opportunities in IoT.Q: Tell us about Cavli Wireless and your team. What is its current valuation and are there fundraising plans in the near future?A: Cavli Wireless is a technology enablement company that aims to democratize the Internet of Things sector with our software-hardware product suite that includes a proprietary connectivity and device management platform, smart IoT modules, and eSIM solutions.We directly work with telecom operators around the world to facilitate local data connectivity thereby ensuring that any IoT product maker or enterprise in any industry, be it logistics, smart agriculture, industrial IoT, smart city applications can easily launch, build and scale their IoT solutions to any geography in the world in the most seamless manner possible.We believe that connecting every object in the physical world to the Internet will most seamlessly and efficiently solve a wide variety of problems and massively improve quality of life and human productivity.At Cavli Wireless we are simplifying the IoT connectivity infrastructure landscape with our end-to-end suite of smart embedded modules, eSIM solutions, and connectivity cloud platform.We are one among the first players in the industry to launch connectivity modules integrated with eSIM that are preloaded with global IoT data, which can be managed by our own platform - Cavli Hubble. Cavli Hubble gives remote backdoor access to smart modules & eSIMs, thereby giving businesses the confidence to scale seamlessly. There is a layer of intelligence and analytics for connectivity management for IoT solutions that are currently not on offer in the global cellular IoT deployment market.Our journey began in 2017 when four industry professionals aligned on the seemingly simple straightforward idea that enabling IoT should be made seamless, scalable and accessible to any smart product maker so that the industry accelerates and human life is greatly improved and efficient. But only when the team started decluttering the current industry problems, did we realize that though the idea is straightforward, the path towards achieving this reality was a complex one. Over the years, the team at Cavli Wireless has grown to become a multicultural community of motivated and curious engineers and business professionals who are on a quest to declutter IoT and make it seamless, secure and scalable one day at a time. Our 50-member team is spread across four regions including the Americas (the US), Europe (Spain ), Middle East (Turkey and Oman), and South Asia (India). We have an R&D innovation center set up in India, with sales operations in all other regions. Together, we aim to be at the forefront of innovation and deliver the best IoT solutions for our customers.I am afraid that I won't be able to share details regarding fundraising at this point in time, but we'd like to share that we are moving towards our Series A raise in 2021.Q: Tell us about the growth Cavli has been witnessing and your insights into the market trends.A: The global adoption of Low Power Wide Area Network technologies like NB-IoT and CAT-M1 and the emergence of 5G technology is certainly resulting in a massive growth in the number of connected IoT devices in the next few years. Cavli is foreseeing this transition and is on a mission to ensure our solutions are relevant to the needs of the cellular IoT industry.Cavli's product suite is the result of the amalgamation of three different verticals - telecom technology, embedded electronics, and cloud engineering. Over the years we have worked with top industry majors spread across the globe at upstream and downstream ends to ensure our IoT CaaS solution always remains few steps ahead of the game. To emerge as the top-5 global solution providers for cellular IoT implementation, Cavli is building an aggressive global sales operation that would make strong inroads into newer markets. With a passionate team that believes in the vision and an agile R&D process built within a very scalable business model, we are very sure that we not just coexist but capture a good mindshare of the market, where product makers will consider "Cavli tech" as one among the most trusted options to get solutions "smart connected."In the next five years, 790 million cellular IoT connections are set to surge to over four billion connections solely on cellular IoT. The market will be worth US$125 billion for IoT connectivity management alone and we are very confident that we will create a dent in the industry with our innovation in technology and business model.Q: In view of the LPWAN cellular-IOT global market distribution, the top-10 telcos take up 85% of the LPWAN IoT connection (in which China enjoys 60%). This is a winner-take-all market, and it may take a long time for the LPWAN to get widely adopted without policy advancement. That's why it depends on government subsidies so much for the time being. Since telecom operators collect limited revenues from IoT connection services, the demand from operators is still very weak for now. How do your products and services address the pain point of the LPWAN IoT market?A: As far as the customer is concerned there are several hurdles or pit stops which makes the journey to figure out seamless IoT connectivity an arduous one. Some of the challenges would be: Connectivity hardware - which involves evaluating multiple embedded hardware product lines based on network technology type); application software/firmware - whether to flash the software on a separate processor Vs. programming the software into the connectivity hardware; network access - eUICC (eSIM) vs single profile SIM technology. Data contract negotiations with telcos or connectivity resellers; R&D effort for the integration of network access technology and connectivity hardware; figuring out telco certifications and other device certifications; and device-cloud connectivity management integration for data subscription managementWith our integrated solution and launch of Hubble99, deep technology players like us are now getting to work closely with telecom operators to bring about a holistic offering that could also push the telecom's enterprise sales efforts as well. The higher purpose of Hubble99 is to democratize IoT - the very problem which you have hinted in the question - that right now industry is dependent on telecom operators to drive large scale IoT adoption, which is not a burden that the telecoms need to carry on their own. By working hand-in-hand with preferred telecom operators in each region, we are making life easy for multitudes of IoT SMBs who would otherwise take even up to a year to hit the market with their solution. The telecoms we are partnering with for Hubble99 are already seeing the results where relatively smaller enterprises with not so huge volumes are moving to market faster. The more the number of such players, it adds up to significant revenue for our telecom partners giving them all the more reasons to ensure continued service quality for LPWAN in the deployed markets.Q: As for the future growth potential for the unlicensed spectrum IoT market, you seem to have focused on cellular-IoT, but has not developed products such as LoRa and SigFox which applies to the unlicensed spectrum technology. However, this unlicensed spectrum market share is bigger than NB-IoT/LTE-M and may have a bigger potential to grow in the future. What is your view about it and plans to meet the demand of that market?A: As of now, our focus is on cellular IoT which we are convinced that it would be a sizable market to prove our worth given the four billion devices that are forecast to go live on cellular networks over the next five years. We have an agile R&D team that is working towards introducing innovations in the cellular-based IoT space in the near future. In fact, we have already started working with complimentary network technology players like Sigfox to define hybrid solutions for certain smart city use cases.The alternative unlicensed LPWAN market will surely grow, but we are confident of being able to cement our position as an IoT enabler for licensed LPWAN especially in application and use cases where security layers are going to be very high.After all, we are in the space to make the "technology for the connected tomorrow," and I believe with the advent of 5G in the near future and with its accelerated proliferation, many unlicensed network technology-based applications could also sway its way towards cellular.Q: What is your plan to transition to the 5G IoT module? It is probably unavoidable for a transition to a 5G NR SA network. But currently, most of the IoT modules that are based on 4G LTE (namely, NB-IoT/LTE-M) may be phased out and make all investments obsolete. What is your opinion about that trend and how do you address it?A: We were set to launch a test network at our Innovation Center in India by Q3 2020, but have slightly delayed it to mid of 2021 owing to the shift in priorities due to the pandemic.When realized, our 5G test network platform will enable startups and companies in the IoT segment in and outside India, prepare their products and prototypes to be ready for the latest technologies.This test network will be available with 5G SA and NSA modes (supporting sub-6Ghz bands), alongside LTE NB-IoT and CAT-M for the LPWAN side of the IoT. Access to this test network will be totally free of cost, fast-tracking different use cases, allowing you to take your smart products globally anywhere completely pre-tested and compliant.As 5G will bring many new test requirements and challenges by the use of SDN/NFV and cloud services, the technology can also be used for creating new test solutions. We've already partnered with two global chipset players to build 5G based modules.OEMs and ODMs can make use of this platform to test their prototypes in real-world scenarios and to leverage their product development. We will be supporting companies with our modules which are in testing - C200-Series 5G IoT modules/modems and the C1X, C3X, C4X series modules/modems for the LPWAN networks, which are currently in production.Q: It seems that the prices of cellular IoT modules have been falling in recent quarters. That could imply wider adoption in the future, but cost-effectiveness will be a challenge to you. What's your strategy to overcome the problem?A: It is true that the price of cellular IoT modules has been dropping over the years. From being a specialized component, cellular modules in its standalone form are now becoming a commodity. However at Cavli, what we bring to the market is not simply hardware. Cavli modules are "intelligent modules."In a span of three years, Cavli Wireless has managed to bring to the market a product suite that is at par or surpasses the capabilities of the incumbents in the IoT space. We recently launched Hubble99, the world's first truly subscription-based IoT offering with zero hardware cost. For an irresistible package price of US$0.99/month/device, IoT solution players get the eSIM integrated connectivity hardware of their choice of technology (on LPWAN/LTE technologies - NB IoT, LTE-M, CAT 1, CAT 4, 2G,3G), pre-loaded IoT data subscription (ranging from 5MB to 30MB), and a robust connectivity-device management cloud platform - Cavli Hubble all bundled into one single package. In 2016, Ericsson predicted a near future where the LPWAN module will be priced below US$5 in the market. With Hubble99, Cavli has brought it down to US$0.Q: Your slogan attracted my attention: "Cellular IoT will never be the same." Tell us how you re-imagine IoT in the next 10 years.A: IoT connectivity enablement is a multi-stakeholder ecosystem that includes connectivity providers/telecom operators, application providers & system integrators. For SMBs, OEMs and enterprises in IoT, figuring out and activating IoT connectivity has not just been the most important cog in the wheel, it has also been a very distorted one. To top it, for most sensory application products, the cost for connectivity hardware at the edge is a significant component of the total product cost, thereby bringing up the initial capital investment involved. This has in fact affected decisions for scale and has been a major reason why many IoT SMBs and benefactors of smart city projects have been cautious about scaling up. There have been projections galore, but not enough on the ground deployments to match it up. Out of the 50 billion devices that were expected to get connected on cellular by 2020, as per predictions by Ericsson, so far only nine billion seems to have found its way through.Thus to unlock the real potential of IoT and to get the next 10 billion devices connected, the currently fragmented ecosystem needs to be re-engineered, consolidated and thus re-imagined from start to end.The last few years have seen a tussle for prominence and dominance amongst the major connectivity technologies that have been grazing the IoT deployment landscape. While LoRaWAN has seen steady growth thanks to the low latency feature and resultant low power consumption, it has stumbled when it comes to quality of service and data packet delivery. Sigfox though it establishes security layers which are commendable with strong firewalls, when it comes to scalability, it has its limitations. WiFi over time has found its permanent seat for indoor home, personal automation and wireless access use cases, with Zigbee taking its fair share of indoor applications from WiFi. Wading through this ensemble, cellular IoT began its ascent up the curve with the definition and advent of cellular LPWAN - NB-IoT and LTE-M which have sealed whatever service gap there was for LTE 4G in terms of enabling low power, low latency, wide coverage applications.Despite the evident advantages that cellular IoT has over its unlicensed spectrum peers like LoRaWAN, Sigfox, Zigbee, and the likes, in terms of security and quality of service, to be the preferred choice for a wide range of industrial and outdoor IoT applications, it has had its share of jinxes. Cellular IoT has had its critics go back and forth on questions around its actual scalability. Theoretically, it can be a non-steered connectivity option but the real challenge for the IoT solution players has been how they can manage the hassle of liaising with multiple telecom operators for the regions they wish to deploy their projects in. So far, from how the market has evolved, it is safe to assume that this has not been an easy ride for the countless IoT product and solution companies trying to expand beyond home turf. The other jinx that has pulled back cellular IoT has been the burden of the initial cost of associated connectivity hardware including smart modules and SIM solutions. With Cavli Wireless, cellular IoT is shedding the shackles that have held it back as it enters a new age.Just like food and fuel, connectivity has also become an essential commodity, one that will determine how we live, work and play. At Cavli Wireless, we believe that connecting every object in the physical world to the Internet will most seamlessly and efficiently solve a wide variety of problems and massively improve quality of life and human productivity. This is the true power of the Internet of Things.(Editor's note: Digitimes Research analyst Benson Wu contributed ideas to the making of this interview.)

Notebook ODMs expect their shipments in the first quarter of 2021 to only slip less than 10% sequentially instead of traditional 20-30% declines, while Taiwan's pure-play foundries will also enjoy a strong 2021 because of robust demand for their capacities. Pegatron is looking to establish a new factory in the US to supply products to clients there.Notebook ODMs to see strongest-ever first quarter in 2021: Notebook ODMs are expected to post only single-digit sequential decreases in shipments for the first quarter of 2021, compared with the 20-30% declines usually seen during the same period in previous years, according to industry sources.Strong year ahead for Taiwan pure-play foundries: Taiwan-based pure-play foundries, led by TSMC, are expected to enjoy a strong 2021 when there may be no obvious seasonality, according to industry sources.Pegatron mulls setting up manufacturing facilities in US: Pegatron is considering establishing a new plant in the US to better serve its clients there including Apple and Tesla, according to industry sources.

The world's top-5 notebook brands saw their combined October shipments (excluding detachable models) hit another new monthly high for 2020 reaching over 17 million units, due mainly to consumer markets in the US and Europe entering a peak season and resurging pandemic further fueling demand for remote work and study applications, according to Digitimes Research's latest figures.Bolstered by strong shipments of both education and consumer notebook models, HP returned to the track for sequential growth in October, and Dell unseated Lenovo as the second largest vendor after registering a sharp increase in Chromebook shipments for the US education market.As to Lenovo, its October shipments slipped sequentially as its fulfillment of education-use Chromebook orders from Japan already peaked earlier and notebook demand in the China market was weaker than in the US and Europe in the month.Taiwan's top-3 notebook ODMs saw their combined October shipments surge 13% sequentially to a historical high, with Compal Electronics posting the highest monthly shipment growth of over 30% due to a significant increase in orders from Dell.

Sony has been keen on developing car-use CIS applications, and it has added ASE Technology to its backend supply chain. ASE will set up a new business unit to handle Sony's CIS orders. Also in Kahsiung, passive components maker Yageo has broken ground for a new plant in line with a plant to continue expanding capacity in Taiwan in the next forve years. Many other manufacturers are expanding their overseas production sites outside of China. Quanta Computer has just disclosed a plan to invest over US$70 million in a subsidiary in Thailand.ASE reportedly joins Sony supply chain for automotive CIS: ASE Technology reportedly has become Sony's second backend partner for processing automotive CMOS imaging sensors (CIS), marking its return to the CIS packaging segment following years of hiatus, according to supply chain sources.Yageo breaks ground for new plant in southern Taiwan: Yageo recently broke ground for a new plant at an industrial park in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan where the passive component vendor has two plants.Quanta expands investments in Thailand subsidiary: Quanta Computer has announced an investment of THB2 billion (US$70.08 million) in QMB, a subsidiary in Thailand, to fund its purchases of production equipment.