Even with the birth of quantum computers, instruments for data collection and measurement will still need semiconductor components and Taiwan's ICT industry should see how they can play a major role in the quantum computing era, according to James Liao, president of Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top academic institution.According to the Ministry of Science of Technology (MOST), Taiwan's ICT industries are already able to handle some segments in quantum technology - such as key components, design and manufacturing of simulators, and development of module for quantum key distribution. And researchers in Taiwan can immediately start exploring the segments such as the tape-out of quantum chip components, electronic design automation (EDA) and low-temperature engineering tests.Felix Gwo, director of Academia Sinica's Research Center for Applied Sciences, noted that Taiwan should not be aspiring to make computers with the most quantum bits (qubit), but rather should be focusing on developing qubit, quantum optics and single photon receivers, making components needed for quantum technologies.Chyou-Huey Chiou, director for the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MOEA) Industrial Technology Department, pointed out that governments worldwide have already treated quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum cryptography as strategic technologies. First-tier IT companies such as IBM, Google, Microsoft and Intel have all invested heavily in R&D and early-phase technology study.Chiou expects the development of digital annealing system technologies to become the best solution for simulators that can be applied in smart manufacturing, smart logistic system and smart medical care, and Taiwanese IT firms should make early preparation for the development.President of Academia Sinica James LiaoPhoto: Michael Lee, Digitimes, December 2020

Despite speculation that 5nm chip orders for the world's top foundry house is slowing down, industry sources say TSMC is expected to see an about 20% rise in wafer shipments to the node segment in first-half 2021. In the meory sector, chipmakers are expected to boost their output for 176-layer 3D NAND chip in second-half 2021. Semiconductor could lose out in the quantum computing era, but Taiwan's government has pledged efforts to help local firms stay competitive.TSMC to see 20% rise in 5nm shipments in 1H21: TSMC is expected to have an about 20% sequential increase in wafer shipments for 5nm process in first-half 2021, according to industry sources who have dismissed speculation that the foundry house may see sharp drops in the segment's utilization rates in the first two quarters of next year due to seasonal factors.Chipmakers to ramp up 176-layer 3D NAND chip output in 2H21: Chipmakers including Micron Technology and SK Hynix have introduced the availability of their 176-layer 3D NAND flash chips, and are expected to ramp up the chip output for UFS and SSD and other applications requiring large storage capacity starting the mid 2021, according to industry sources.Taiwan government to support companies in quantum era: Amid concerns that quantum computing could threaten the existence of the semiconductor industry, Taiwan's minister of science and technology Tsung-Tsong Wu has noted that his ministry will continue to provide support to companies such as TSMC to help them maintain their competitiveness in the industry.

Amid concerns that quantum computing could threaten the existence of the semiconductor industry, Taiwan's minister of science and technology Tsung-Tsong Wu has noted that his ministry will continue to provide support to companies such as TSMC to help them maintain their competitiveness in the industry.Wu pointed out that many IC makers have already encountered the bottleneck of Moore's Law and challenges will be more difficult to overcome beyond 3nm and 2nm nodes.Wu disclosed he had talked to TSMC chairman Mark Liu about such concerns about Moore's Law, and expressed the government's intentions of helping the global leader in the wafer foundry sector to maintain its leadership even if it's infeasible to shrink the process node further beyond 2nm.Beyind the 2nm node, Taiwan's technology investments will not be placed all in one basket. Taiwan will make deployments in ICT sectors, digital technology, innovations in traditional industries, and quantum computing, Wu noted.Although studies on quantum computing have been going on for many years, most Taiwanese companies are still unwilling to invest in related R&D as their expertise lies mainly in semiconductor instead of superconductor. At the moment, most Taiwan-based IT firms only have small investments in developing low-temperature superconducting peripheral circuits to cope with their first-tier IT clients' demand, Wu said.Scattered resources among domestic academic units also pose a disadvantage to Taiwan's IT industry as study of quantum computing requires an enormous amount of budget as well as discussion, division of work and cross-support among Taiwan's major universities and Academia Sinica - Taiwan's top academic institution.Starting 2021, MOST is set to raise the budget for quantum computers and will push to unite Taiwan's universities and Academia Sinica's quantum research teams, Wu added.TSMC chairman Mark LiuPhoto: Michael Lee, Digitimes, December 2020

Powertech Technology (PTI), a major memory backend service provider, has recently completed a management change. Its new CEO, Boris Hsieh, told Digitimes in a recent interview how PTI group is aiming to become an all-round OSAT. In the memoery market, NOR flash is expected to be in short supply in 2021, with prices to rise by 5% in the first half of next year. Persisting shortfall in foundry supply is motivating VIS to seek more fab acquisitions for capacity expan sion. All-round OSAT: Q&A with PTI CEO Boris Hsieh: Taiwan-based Powertech Technology (PTI) is one of the world's top OSATs with major backend orders from non-Korean memory vendors. PTI has just completed a top management shakeup after JY Hung retired as president and CEO at the end of September. Boris Hsieh, formerly CEO at Greatek Electronics - a subsidiary doing logic IC pakcaking work - has now become CEO of PTI. Former PTI COO JS Leu is now president.NOR flash to be in short supply with prices to rise 5% in 1H21: NOR flash chips supply is expected to fall short of demand by 5% in 2021, and their quotes are estimated to rise 5% in the next two quarters amid overall inventory level falling significantly, according to industry sources.VIS in talks to acquire 8-inch wafer fab from target seller: Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) is again seeking to expand its 8-inch wafer foundry capacity through acquisitions to meet ever-booming demand from vendors of power management ICs, driver ICs and CMOS image sensor (CIS) chips, after acquiring an 8-inch wafer fab operated in Singapore from Globalfoundries in late 2019.

Taiwan government-sponsored Institute for Information Industry (III) has developed Chameleon software to be matched with gateways, enabling Internet connection of machines and equipment at production lines to boost smart manufacturing.Such Internet connection has faced with two major problems. Most software is customized and therefore updating or adding equipment will need to update or replace the software, incurring high maintenance cost and much time. Most Internet connection systems are on a project basis and manufacturers have to rely on outside support when they need to add equipment to expand production capacities.Chameleon features easy installation, maintenance and scalability, and its operation does not need programming knowledge, III said. Chameleon supports Mitsubishi Electric, Omron, Siemens and Panasonic PLCs (programmable logic controllers) as well as 11 communication protocols including Modbus TCP and RTU, III noted. Dashboard module of Chameleon enables users to set up data displays on demand for remote monitoring, III added. Chameleon provides a Python-based AI environment to enable users to develop on-demand modules for application of AI, III indicated.Chameleon also allows users to develop computing modules for using data to compute capacity utilization rates, screen abnormal numerical values as well as SPC (statistical process control) modules, III said.Chameleon has been adopted for at least 60,000 machines of more than 50 types by manufacturing industries of textile, PCBs, hand tools, hardware used in water supply and industrial fasteners, said III.

Samsung is keen on catching up with TSMC in advanced node semiconductor manufacturing, but sources blame unsatisfactory yield rates for 8nm process at the Korean foundry for short supply of Nvidia's new GeForce RTX 30 GPUs. The Korean giant, however, has a clear leadership in commercializing microLED displays. Its 110-inch microLED TV is set to be available in first-quarter 2021. Samsung and fellow memory maker SK Hynix have both reduced output for speciaty DRAM, prices for which are expected to go up further in 2021.New Nvidia GPU in short supply due to unsatisfactory yield at Samsung, sources say: Nvidia's new GeForce RTX 30 GPUs have been in tight supply due to unsatisfactory 8nm process yield rates at its foundry partner Samsung, according to industry sources.Samsung set to commercialize microLED TVs in 2021: Samsung Electronics is set to launch its microLED TV lineup in the first quarter of 2021, heralding the arrival of the next-generation TV products.Specialty DRAM prices to continue rally in 2021: Specialty DRAM prices, which have started rising recently, will continue their rally next year due to tight supply, according to industry sources.

The number of FinTech startups in Vietnam has almost tripled from 44 to 121 between 2017 and 2020, with 31% of them operating in payments, according to a report released by Fintech News Singapore.FinTech is expected to grow even more with favorable regulations, including the upcoming FinTech regulatory sandbox and the legal framework for digital assets and cryptocurrencies, said the report.VIR reported that as of October 2020, there are 39 authorized non-bank payment service providers in Vietnam, with MoMo, Payoo, Moca, ZaloPay and ViettelPay being the five largest e-purse providers. The number of players operating in the payments industry in Vietnam is large and very competitive, but there are still many opportunities for growth.Fintech News Singapore stressed that despite the rapid development, the Vietnamese FinTech industry is still new compared to Singapore and areas including data/credit/scoring management and crowdfunding are still non-existent in Vietnam. Vietnam's FinTech industry is dominated by B2C players, while the less developed B2B segment is poised for growth.

Despite the pandemic and US-China trade tensions, Southeast Asian capital markets have remained resilient, with local IPO activity from January up to mid October 2020 reaching pre-pandemic levels, and with 100 IPOs raising a total of US$6.44 billion.TAY Hwee Ling, head of Southeast Asia and Singapore at Deloitte, was cited as saying companies were able to find new growth by changing their business models during the crisis, and that areas such as healthcare and its suppliers have benefited amid the pandemic.Thailand Business News reported that for the second consecutive year, Thailand was the top fundraising country in Southeast Asia, with Central Retail and SCG Packaging raising US$1.77 billion and US$1.27 billion, respectively.

Wafer fab capacity has been tight with Taiwanese foundry houses seeign clear order visibility through 2021. Foundry houses have raised their quotes to reflect tight capacity, further buoyign their profitability. LCD panel prices have also been rising, thanks to strong demand amid tight supply as a result of component shortages. Panel quotes are expected rise by about 20% in fourth-quarter 2020. The notebook sector has also seen robust demand driven by pandemic-fueled stay-at-home economy. Notebook ODMs expect shipments to buck the seasonal trend in first-half 2021.Taiwan foundries see clear order visibility through 2021: Taiwan-based foundries particularly 8-inch ones are expected to see their production capacities stay tight through the end of 2021, with upward adjustments in their foundry quotes set to buoy their profitability next year, according to industry sources.LCD panel prices to rise another 20% in 4Q20: LCD panel prices are expected to rise by about 20% in fourth-quarter 2020 following a 30% rally in the prior quarter, as demand for diverse sizes of panels from end-market brand vendors remains strong, according to industry sources.Notebook ODMs to enjoy strong 1H21: Notebook ODMs are expected to enjoy a particularly strong first half of 2021, thanks to a continued ramp-up in orders from clients, according to industry sources.

In view of the fact that academic research has always been a key force driving national economic development, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) commissioned the Center of Industry Accelerator and Patent Strategy (IAPS), National Chiao Tung University to carry out the Integrated Cross-campus Accelerator Network (iCAN) program in 2016 and further established the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) in 2018 for the purpose of commercializing research results and promoting academia-industry collaborations. To demonstrate the strength of the startup teams that MOST has fostered, 2020 iCAN X TTA Batch#2 Demo Day was held on December 1, 2020 at TTA and was attended by venture capital fund managers and corporate executives as well as iCAN startup teams.Not only was the event aimed to enable partnership opportunities between startups and enterprises, but intended to recognize the startup teams that performed outstandingly during the second half of 2020.Chun-Yi Tu, deputy director-general, Department of Academia-Industry Collaboration and Science Park Affairs (DAICSPA), MOST, remarked in her speech that the cabinet and all the ministries exert active efforts to drive changes to Taiwan's startup incubation policies in hopes of building a healthy environment that can foster a flourishing startup scene. To this end, MOST has launched programs that aim to guide startup teams across different stages of development by providing them counseling, accelerator services, or global partnership match-making. Gathering a myriad of outstanding startups, the event is proof that the policy goal is gradually becoming a reality. MOST will keep investing resources to optimize Taiwan's startup ecosystem.Creating an ideal startup incubation environmentCommenting on iCAN's achievements in 2020, IAPS managing director Hank Huang noted that the program aims to commercialize academic research results and thereby fulfill MOST's goal to perfect Taiwan's startup ecosystem, drive a burgeoning startup scene, promote cross-campus collaboration and communication, boost foreign investments in Taiwan and accelerate industry development. Since July 2016, iCAN's efforts in promoting partnerships with business corporations and communication with international startup communities have successfully helped Taiwan's startups secure NT$450 million (US$15.94 million) worth of investments and orders from foreign and domestic enterprises. Specifically, in terms of partnerships with business corporations, iCAN brings in industry resources and provides tailored guidance every step of the way to enable startup teams to maximize their value while spurring the growth of existing corporations.Huang added that operating on the core concept of refined guidance and targeted investment, iCAN implements a three-step process when incubating a startup. The first step is guided by industry mentors, wherein a number of CXOs and professional mentors with 20 to 30 years of experience working for publicly listed companies as well as four leading accounting firms provide one-on-one counseling to help assess the startup's technology, finance, operation and marketing strength. The second step is meeting with angel investors, wherein the startup team will meet with close to 100 angel investors, venture capitalists and corporate investors one by one, who with insight into specific industries will offer suggestions on the adjustments the startup team should make. The third step is president investment, wherein the startup team will present directly to the corporate presidents at iCAN events to gain partnership opportunities in the form of strategic investments, product R&D collaborations and/or precise sales channel development. Thirteen such events have been held over the past four years.The biggest difference between what iCAN has been doing in 2020 and the past is that it is strengthening practical implementations such as collaborations with corporations, field testing and capital investments to accelerate startup growth. This part of iCAN's efforts further includes three aspects - engaging foreign investments, accelerating startup training and commercialization guidance. As of the end of November 2020, iCAN has held more than 500 refined counseling sessions, which were all planned with startup needs in mind. In each of these sessions, a group of corporate CXOs or professionals were selected based on an initial assessment of the startup team's needs. The selected mentors then provided suggestions from a wide range of perspectives including business operation strategies, analysis of market needs, core values, scaling growth, business and technology partnership matchmaking, multi-national finance planning and patent portfolio planning.Aside from the tailor-made refined counseling sessions, iCAN has also organized more than 25 training series and 100 investment matchmaking events to connect startups with corporations, helping startups precisely target a market segment and accelerate growth by tapping industry resources, working with enterprises and following market mechanism. Through its four and a half years of efforts, iCAN's cross-campus program has incubated 99 startup teams from 53 participating universities, successfully bringing in nearly NT$400 million worth of third-party investment and NT$50 million worth of business partnership. According to Huang, iCAN has created a business environment that fosters startup growth in the most practical way. Feedbacks and evaluations from the group of close to 100 startups have been positive across the board. The response rate from the 2020 survey reached 77.7% and the overall average satisfaction rating was 4.4 stars.Taiwan's vibrant startup sceneRecognized for their corporate health, market orientation, business progress, appeal to foreign and domestic corporations as well as potential as an investment target, six startup teams were awarded at the event. Among them, Sounds Great and CytoArm received the Most Promising Elite Award; Micro PC received the Fast Progress Award; YILI Railway Technology received the Domestic Firms' Favorite Award; Rovilus received the Foreign Firms' Favorite Award; and RedEye Biomedical received the Rising Star Investment Target Award. To encourage the teams to strengthen their product offerings and boost their operation efficiency, each of the awarded startups will have a chance to engage in a close partnership with a corporation.The event also included product presentations by eight teams with promising potential selected from biomedical and healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, green energy and smart machinery sectors. Their products demonstrate practicality and creativity. For example, LuminX has developed a one-stop cellular pharmacokinetics test platform for pre-clinical cellular pharmacokinetics evaluation of cell therapies. DeepMentor provides the DeepLog miniaturized electronics design automation tool that can shorten the time it takes to deploy edge devices for cloud-based AI systems. Moldintel proposes a cutting-edge cloud-based molding solution.A total of 13 startup teams including the eight that gave presentations exhibited their products at the event and communicated with participating corporate executives and venture capitalists. Combining technology with field know-how, these teams have come up with products showing promising commercialization potential. For example, Lockists' scooter sharing platform allows members to share their motorcycles with other members without any intrusive modification. Neopower Technologies provides highly customized single-source or hybrid power system controllers which not only engage in real-time communication with subsystems and modules but also operate on self-developed algorithms to deliver benefits in performance and cost-effectiveness. NetFay's devices and services for smartphone backup and home surveillance ensure privacy protection while enabling optimal user experience.Chun-Yi Tu, deputy director-general of DAICSPA (front, third from right) and IAPS managing director Hank Huang (front, third from left) at 2020 iCAN X TTA Batch#2 Demo DayPhoto:Digitimes, December, 2020