Less than one year after Mellanox was acquired by Nvidia for US$7 billion, Alon Webman, co-founder of Mellanox, started his second entrepreneurial project. The new company, Chain Reaction, targets the exponential growth to be set off by he calls a "cryptography everywhere" trend. His presentation on Zoom at the first US-Taiwan Startup Forum (UTSF) held in late September generated much interest from various venture capitalists and experts from the blockchain and semiconductor sectors.Blockchain's potential is widely expected. PriceWaterHouse predicts that the application of blockchain will boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by US1.76 trillion by 2030. IDC estimates that blockchain spending will grow at five-year (2018-2023) CAGR of 55.3% for the Asia-Pacific region and 57.1% worldwide, with global spending reaching US$14.4 billion by 2023. Despite the optimism, Webman and Oren Yokev, Chain Reaction co-founder and CTO, foresee some pain points ahead. They told Digitimes that combining the silicon/software engineering capability of their team and Taiwan's high-tech manufacturing supply chain can provide the best solution.Q: Why did you pick blockchain to combine with IC design as your second entrepreneurial project? What is your view toward the blockchain IC industry evolution and requirements?Webman (W): We came from different industries. I came from the high-tech industry, and Oren came from the government institution. But we were classmates some 28 years ago.All of the people who joined the company wanted to experience something they could start from the beginning. I brought in the experience of Mellanox as a startup, but this time in a different vertical, to build something we did not have 20 years ago. Many people who joined Chain Reaction could have decided to retire at this stage of their lives, but we did not feel what we learned over the years was enough. We wanted to take it to a new company, and this time to do it at the front seat, not from the backseat. This is the first thing. I think this goes along with Oren, goes along with Richard (Richard Lu, EVP of Sales and Operations).Richard and Joseph (Joseph Chen, deputy director of Global Supply Management) came from TSMC. And my team has been working with me for many years. We want to work together and enjoy a real new start to bring everything that we've learned in the last 20 years.We want to do something that works and has businesses around. I brought in the IC capability of our team; Oren brought in software, cyber security, and cryptography. And we started to look around different kind of verticals. All of those verticals didn't have two things that are important at the same time: if you go to cyber, you don't have the IC; if you go to networking, you have less security. We think IC, cryptography, security, software, all combined, are important. Blockchain combines them perfectly. But one thing we missed was someone who could help to make sure it would work on an ASIC. We contacted Richard. We brought in the engineering part. Richard brought in the relationships and the experiences in fab, sales, and overall silicon companies around the world.The combination of ASIC, cryptography, and algorithm - and to do it with TSMC's high-volume manufacturing - brings the maximum of the knowledge and experience that Oren, Richard and I have accumulated over the last 20 years.Q: You talked about the trilemma - scalability, privacy/security, and decentralization - of the blockchain industry. Could you explain that and how do your solutions solve those problems?W: You must have decentralization as it is one of blockchain core elements.You need to have security and privacy for your data. You work in the public domain, so you must secure all information and data. If you want the technology for millions of users, you must have scalability. As a silicon company you always want to work in a segment that has the potential for scalability to justify the business. The problem is that today you cannot have all these three elements taken care of at the same time. All the solutions available out there today are software based, and they only touch and optimize one or two of those three elements.We think, by providing efficient cryptography, we can optimize all of them. And we also realize that, if we want to do cryptography the right way, it must be through hardware acceleration. The software running the regular and generic processors available today, whether it's Intel processor or the most efficient graphic processing unit (GPU), are far from being efficient for the specific mathematic computation required for cryptography in order to boost all those three elements of blockchain I mentioned before. Doing decentralization basically means that you have a lot of computers which do the same calculation in parallel. Compared to one centralized computer doing one solution, if you do it with 100 decentralized computers, it takes 100 times of computing power to do the same solution.To do it efficiently and economically, the first step is to reduce the cost overhead coming with decentralization. Accelerating cryptography reduces computation cost of many computers doing the same calculation in parallel. You can use cryptography to improve performance. Performance is measured by two parameters: the number of transactions and the cost. You can use that cryptography to increase the number of transactions per second and reduce the cost, by taking many transactions and signing in with a simple cryptographic signature. The scale in this case is multiplied by the number of transactions you sign together. And last, anytime you make the transactions more efficient, faster, and requiring less resources, you make them cheaper. So that also covers the cost.After covering the decentralization, the number of transactions and the cost, we go into security and privacy. They are both done by cryptography, and both require lots of computing. To combine them with decentralization and scalability, you need to ensure efficiency. As I said, cryptography is the solution. We believe the most efficient and effective way is by far through hardware acceleration. The first solution we see it being 50-100 times more efficient, and the next solution we expect to be more than 1,000 times better.They sound like a big number, but you need to understand that cryptography is very inefficient today. Some operations can take minutes, hours, or even days. A thousand times more efficient will bring you to scale and bring in millions and millions of users in the future.Q: You've been talking about "cryptography everywhere." Any ballpark figure forecast for us?W: Tell you a secret: cryptography is already everywhere in our lives today. When you use your mobile phone, when you use your car, your computer, everything has cryptography. Today there are already some solutions in cryptography that do not require much computing. However, in the future, cryptography will step up into the next level with the privacy and security elements that we talked about in blockchain. To keep your data outside your premises secured and useful, you take cryptography and do analytics on the data while they are still crypted. That way, you can keep the data secured and still enjoy the benefit of your data. We see database everywhere in the future, in cloud service providers and in storage for data that will involve more advanced cryptography.Cryptography is already everywhere, but there will be more. That means you will need stronger computing power. Whether it is centralized or decentralized, cloud providers of services on your computer, mobile phones and cars, all of them require strong computing powers, and we will be able to play in all those verticals.Blockchain is the first area that have scale for us as a company to generate revenues that sustain efforts in other things. But blockchain will be popularized in 3-4 years. Multi-party computation with stronger cryptography will be the next stage, which is expected to happen in 5-7 years. And then we will see V2V communication, which is between cars and everything around them. You do not want anyone to mess around or hack into them. So, security must be strong but efficient. Let us not forget, in 5-10 years, quantum computers will be here. Quantum computers also take up a lot of computing powers. And this just touches the edge of everything. So, you see, cryptography is already here, and there will be much more. We will be able to supply the tools for everyone to use, and that will make Chain Reaction a successful company.Q: What is Oren's contribution in this regard?W: He is the smart guy. He is the one who defines how to do it and put the best solution into product. I am just the guy who tries to sell it.Yokev (Y): We have a lot of smart guys in the company. It is indeed a huge challenge to address the need of data privacy. For example, the COVID-19 situation calls for a lot of data sharing and quick actions. If there is a solution where you can share data but there is no trust between the agencies invovled, it would hurt people and even cause panic. That may be an extreme case, but we see data privacy as a big driver in the future for every cryptography we are doing.The challenge is to take those abstract ideas and very complicated mathematics and then turn them into transistors that run faster and at lower costs. Fortunately, we have a team of experts that can do all the process. We have a new processor architecture that is supportive of all these new ideas and mathematics, providing better solutions in the coming years.W: By the way, our product is called CrPU, Crypto Processor Unit or Chain Reaction Processing Unit. It was Oren's idea. He believes it is the way we should be doing.Q: What is your internationalization plan in terms of recruiting, supply chain management, and customers?W: It's not just for Chain Reaction, but also for others looking to become big and influential companies. You start a small design team usually located in one area. Because this is the easiest path: you work with people you know, and you have to work together. But to be successful, you have to be international and global. This process takes a while; it doesn't happen in one day. You have a product, and then you must sell it. We want to be a company that is all around the world. We are a young company that is 1.5 years old, and already have two offices in Israel, one in Taiwan, and one in the US. I am sure in the next few years, you will see us elsewhere in the world. There are no boundaries as long as we find the right people. Our company is based on the ability of people, and everyone brings to the table something different, whether it's engineering, or supply chain.Taiwan is such a strong technology hub. We are going to manufacture a lot of things in Taiwan, and with Richard's help, we are going to enhance our connections in the US and Taiwan. Certainly, TSMC, the best foundry out there, will be our partner. We will sell it in the US, to Europe, to Middle East, to Far East, and to the emerging markets in South America, etc. There will be no limitations. You will see Chain Reaction products everywhere in the future. We hope to change the world by what we do today.Y: We understand the supply chain is a huge challenge. That is very unusual for an Israeli company to start with a triangle. Many companies do it with the R&D, then sales, and then manufacturing. But we start it rather the opposite. Because of the vision, we know we would need a very strong supply chain and the ability to reach markets globally. Rather unusual, but we believe it's the right path.W: This is what we bring from what we had in the past. In Mellanox we often said, "high-volume manufacturing starts an architecture." If you don't understand that you will never be able to manufacture and to make a difference. We have Richard first communicate with the architecture guys about what to do, before we can enable the production of the products we sell. If it were the architecture guys to tell Richard what to do, we would only end up with great technology, but no revenues, no supply chain - just prototypes. If you think as a big company while you are a startup, and you know how the company should be, you know the next step to emphasize along the growth of the company, then you will be able to overcome the hurdles along the way. We think that the high-volume manufacturing, the connection with TSMC, and the dedicated sales team are the make or break of the company.Q: Do you have a timetable for your products to enter mass production? And what processing technology are you planning to use?W: For the foundry technology, we already know. We are going to use advanced-node processing technology at TSMC. We are going to start with 7nm and 6nm. By the end of 2022 we will already have a 5nm product. We will enjoy the best of what Taiwan's high-tech industry can bring. TSMC is the No. 1 foundry in every aspect. In the first half of 2021, we will have the first solution on top of the cloud, which is still based on our architecture on software. Our first hardware product will be available in the second half of 2021. From there, we will have a continuous line of products.Chain Reaction CEO Alon WebmanChain Reaction CTO Oren YokevPhotos: Company

Intel-SK Hynix's transaction of NAND flash business may be influenced by the memory chips' ongoing price drops in 2021 due to oversupply, while TV panel demand remains strong despite end market having been pushing for a boost in TV pricing. ASE is optimistic about its operation in 2021 as demand for its packaging capacity will stay in high gear.Lingering NAND price falls may affect Intel-Sk Hynix deal, say sources: NAND flash price falls have been accelerating in the second half of the year along with datacenter operators and server clients entering inventory adjustments, and may persist into 2021 with expanding oversupply. Whether this will serve as a new variable affecting Intel's planned sales of its NAND flash and SSD business including a manufacturing plant in China's Dalian to SK Hynix remains to be seen, according to industry sources.Demand for TV panels undeterred by rising TV prices: Demand for TV panels has not been affected by recent price movements at the end-market, where Chinese TV brands have adjusted upward their TV prices and major vendors in North America are still adopting a wait-and-see strategy for pricing, according to industry sources.ASE optimistic about 2021: OSAT provider ASE Technology has expressed optimism about its operations in the fourth quarter of 2020 and next year, as its packaging capacity remains tight and ASPs will rise.

Smartphone shipments in the China market are expected to grow 25.4% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2020 due to increasing shipments of Apple's iPhone 12 lineup and aggressive marketing by first-tier Chinese brands including Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo for taking over the market share left over by Huawei, according to Digitimes Research.In the third quarter of 2020, sales of smartphones in China fell 25.2% sequentially and 26.2% on year amid weak demand in the local market and an escalation of the fresh US trade bans against Huawei, Digitimes Research says.Even so, Huawei still remained the top smartphone vendor in China in the third quarter, followed by Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and Apple, with the top-5 vendors accounting for 97.2% of market share, down 0.8pp from the previous quarter.It is estimated that part of Huawei's market share in the fourth quarter would be snatched by brands including Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Apple, with the US smartphone vendor likely to step up one notch to replace Xiaomi as the fourth largest vendor in the quarter.

Trade tensions are accelerating decentralization of the notebook industry, particuarly in China and India where vendors are now keen on designing and making devices locally to cater to domestic needs or work around restrictions. Strong demand for notebooks in the wake of the coronavirus lockdowns has pushed up sales and profits for many in the IT ecosystem, including LCD display suppliers. AUO was able to return to profitablity in thrid-quarter 2020 after six quarters of losses. Foundry house UMC has also reported strong profits for the third quarter, thanks to the pandemic-boosted stay-at-home needs.Notebook vendors to step up production, design localization in China, India: Both China and India are on track to drive production and design localization for electronics devices including desktops and notebooks for sales in their domestic markets, with brand vendors stepping up relevant deployment to vie for more market opportunities, according to industry sources.AUO returns to profit in 3Q20: AU Optronics (AUO) managed to rake in net profits of NT$2.89 billion (US$101.02 million) in the third quarter of 2020, ending a streak of six consecutive quarterly losses, with its revenues for the quarter rising 15.3% sequentially to NT$73.23 billion, according to company statistics.UMC posts 36.4% profit surge in 3Q20: United Microelectronics (UMC) has reported net profits surged 36.4% sequentially and over 200% on year to NT$9.11 billion (US$318.4 million) in the third quarter of 2020. EPS for the quarter came to NT$0.75.

Demand for the iPhone 12 Pro has been so strong delivery lead time from manufacturers has had to be extended. And Apple is set to increase orders for VCSEL chips supporting the iPhone 12 Pro's LiDAR scanner for immersive augmented reality (AR). The PC market has seen risk sales in the wake of the pandemic, but graphics card vendors may see shipments decline in fourth-quarter 2020, due partly to shortages of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 30 series. And notebook components shortages continue to trouble Acer, whhich is able fufill only 30% of its orders.Apple to increase VCSEL chip orders for iPhone 12 Pro, says sources: Apple is poised to increase its orders for VCSEL chips for ToF-based LiDAR scanners used by the just released iPhone 12 Pro due to strong demand for the model, particularly in the US, according to sources at Taiwan-based supply chain makers.Graphics card brands to see shrinking 4Q20 sales due to Nvidia card shortages: Motherboard and graphics card manufacturers may see their revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2020 constrained by the tight supply of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 30 series, according to industry sources.Component shortages continue to disrupt Acer Chromebook shipments: Component shortages continue to disrupt Acer's Chromebook shipments, which can fulfill only 30% of customer orders, with shipments for the remainders having to be deferred, according to the company.

China's handset vendors shipped a total of 182 million smartphones globally in the third quarter of 2020, up 10.6% sequentially but down 5.6% on year, Digitimes Research has found.The sequential gains come as Chinese brands, with the exception of Huawei, were able to ramp up overseas shipments to meet inventory replenishment demand by channel operators outside China, offsetting sluggish sales in the domestic market,Among the major Chinese vendors, Huawei saw its overall shipment decline 25.5% sequentially in the third quarter, while rival brands including Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo all posted sequential gains, Digitimes Research figures show.The top-four vendors accounted for 74.3% of China's total smartphone shipments in the third quarter, down from 78.7% a quarter earlier.In the fourth quarter, Chinese vendors are still likely to post sequential growth for overall smartphone shipments, but they will continue to suffer declines annually as the pace of the recovery of the domestic demand will remain slow.Smartphones shipped by Chinese vendors will account for roughly 50% of global shipments in fourth-quarter 2020, close to the level seen a year earlier. But Huawei is likely to be dethroned from its top-vendor ranking in the domestic market as its local rivals continue ramping their shipments, notably to overseas markets to cash in on peak-season demand.

Tight supply at pure-play foundries has pushed up chip fabrication costs. Foundry quotes are expected to continue rising through first-half 2021. Foundry supply has been particularly tight at the 8-inch segment where makers have been finding it hard to expand capacity because of a lack of new fab tools. Acquiring old fabs is an option. Meanwhile, global smartphone shipments rebounded in third-quarter 2020 after coronavirus impacts sent them dropping in the previous two quarters, according to Digitimes Research's latest five-year forecast report on the global smartphone market from 2020-2025.Foundry quotes to rise through 1H21: Taiwan-based pure-play foundries will continue raising their quotes through the first half of 2021 due to tight capacity, according to sources at fabless chipmakers.Old fabs draw acquisition interest from 8-inch foundries: Mature but idle wafer fabs have drawn interest from 8-inch foundries that have seen tight capacity, such as United Microelectronics (UMC), according to market sources.Global smartphone shipments improve in 3Q20: Global smartphone shipments fell by slightly over 6% on year in the third quarter of 2020, improving significantly from the previous two quarters as demand for smartphones outside the China market rebounded, according to Digitimes Research.

Global server shipments, after reaching the peak of 2020 in the second quarter, are estimated to have slipped 6% sequentially in the third quarter and to drop another 12% in the fourth quarter, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic disrupting the buying pattern, according to Digitimes Research.Amazon will be the only datacenter operator to continue seeing shipment growths in fourth-quarter 2020 due to its cloud computing datacenter infrastructure expansions and increased procurement of servers for the e-commerce business.Server shipments will drop over 10% in the fourth quarter as most datacenter operators and brand vendors have decelerated their order pull-ins since the start of the second half due to high inventory levels already built in the second quarter. The lingering pandemic has hit hard Europe and North America, with datacenter operators delaying their server installation and testing there. Local enterprises are also cutting their procurement of servers.Intel, which was originally set to unveil its next-generation Whitley server platform at the end of 2020, is unlikely to begin volume production for the new CPUs until after first-quarter 2021. Server clients have decelerated order pull-in to wait for the transition to be completed with the replacement trend unlikely to take place until the first half of 2021.Of the top-4 US-based datacenter operators, Microsoft was the keenest on pulling in orders in the second quarter and saw its shipments pick up over 45% sequentially in the quarter. However, with serious double-booking and many of its large-size datacenter construction plans being suspended, Microsoft is expected to have the sharpest shipment decline in the second half of 2020 compared to the first, according to Digitimes Research's latest findings.Facebook and Google both increased server shipments in the third quarter due to demand from their online multimedia and cloud computing AI platforms. However, the two datacenter operators will slow down the pace of orders pending Intel's transiting to the new CPU platform. The two still have inventory needed to be digested. As a result, each of them will see a sequential shipment decline of around 10% in the fourth quarter.Amazon will be the only top-4 cloud computing service provider to see sequential shipment growth in the fourth quarter as the company's server orders for the first half were milder than those of its fellow companies. Amazon has strong demand for servers due to expansion plans.In addition to demand for e-commerce services because of stay-at-home activities, Amazon also sees demand from year-end holiday shopping in Europe and North America. With many physical retailers shifting their promotion activities online, Amazon also postponed its Prime Day promotional campaign to the fourth quarter and should boost the company's demand for servers.Amazon's key ODM partners including Foxconn, Quanta Computer and Inventec, are expected to benefit from the server orders and see better-than-expected financial performances in the fourth quarter.

Global smartphone shipments fell by slightly over 6% on year in the third quarter of 2020, improving significantly from the previous two quarters as demand for smartphones outside the China market rebounded, according to Digitimes Research.Despite the lingering of the pandemic in many parts of the world and an increase in confirmed cases in the US, Europe and Southeast Asia in the third quarter, the job markets and consumer consumption in most of these areas were gradually recovering thanks to the offerings of various relief measures by related governments.Consumers are now more willing to buy new phones, as many people have seen much less spending on travel in the wake of the pandemic, and they are likely to purchase more electronics goods for their own or as year-end holiday gifts.Digitimes Research's just-published five-year forecast report on global smartphone shipments has revised upward its forecast for global smartphone shipments for 2020 to 1.22 billion units, up from its July estimation of 1.15 billion units, and with the annual decline rate for global smartphone shipments narrowing to 10.4% in the year.Smartphone shipments in China will decline 16.1% on year to 308 million units in 2020, while smartphone shipments outside China will slip 8.2% to 912 million units.Global shipments of 5G phones are expected to reach over 260 million units in 2020, accounting for 20% of global smartphone shipments.Looking back to third-quarter 2020, Samsung Electronics managed to take over the market share relinquished by Huawei in Europe and outraced the Chinese vendor to regain the number-one vendor ranking globally.Huawei saw its shipments plunge by over 25% sequentially in the third quarter due to weak consumer demand in China and the impacts of the US trade sanctions.However, Chinese handset vendors have continued to ramp up their shipments of 5G phones, notably models for the CNY1,000 (US$149) segment.With the availability of 5G iPhone devices, sales of 5G models are expected to account for over 70% of total smartphone shipments in China soon, up from over 60% currently.Digitimes Research expects 5G phone shipments to the China market to reach over 160 million units in 2020.

Taiwan maintains a leading edge in medical technologies with a myriad of academic research teams working on projects producing valuable achievements. However, these achievements have remained hidden inside universities. To help promote the development of premium-quality medical supplies and technologies and drive commercialization of academic research results, Taipei Medical University (TMU) and Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU) co-hosted the "TMU x KMU Joint Medical Technology Business Matchmaking" event on September 29, 2020. Bringing together Taiwan's entrepreneurs and startup teams, the event built a bridge for industry-academia communication.Six teams with development potential presented their products and technology strength and discussed with the guests with respect to the feasibility of marketing their research results.In his speech, TMU vice president Chieh-Hsi Wu noted matchmaking events are of great significance to both TMU and KMU. Faculty members at the two medical universities have long been committed to advanced medical technology research and have built up a solid foundation. However, they lack the industry connections to help bring their research achievements to commercialization. This is exactly the purpose of the matchmaking event - turning the research energy that has been accumulated over the years into viable business models.In agreement with Wu, KMU vice president Wen-Chun Hung stated that the two medical universities respectively located in Taipei and Kaohsiung possess complementing technologies and are both surrounded by well-developed industry clusters. TMU is in close proximity to the National Biotechnology Research Park in Nangang, the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) and the Startup Terrace in Linkou. KMU is in the vicinity of the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) and its Luzhu and Qiaotou campuses. Already situated in a premium industry-academia environment, if the two universities can strengthen their external connections, their medical research projects will be able to create massive commercial value.Jane Tseng, director of the Ministry of Science and Technology's SPARK Taiwan program, which set off Taiwan's efforts toward fostering medical startups, commended the technological strength of Taiwan's medical universities at the event. Founded eight years ago, SPARK Taiwan has successfully helped a large number of academic research teams transform into startup firms, said Tseng. During the process, she witnessed the technological potential of Taiwan's medical universities. The matchmaking event was aimed at realizing their potential, allowing their achievements to go to market. Tseng also hoped the event would mark the start of the flourishing development of Taiwan's academic research power.First to present its product, Gar Den Bio introduced its "antibiotic resistance testing service platform for drug-resistant bacteria." The platform is developed with an aim to help medical institutions address the challenges in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. Based on three core technologies - an exclusive database of antibiotic resistant organisms, diverse methods of animal experimentation and bacterial genome editing, the team has developed a small molecular compound for treatment against carbapenem-resistant bacteria, which breaks down and even hollows out the bacteria within one hour and kills 99.9% of them within two to four hours. Gar Den has filed a provisional application with the US Patent and Trademark Office. Going forward, it will complete preclinical study and file an Investigational new drug application and upon approval, transfer the technology to a pharmaceutical firm.Precisely Printed Medical developed "3D additive manufacturing of bioceramics as bone graft substitute." The team uses refined 3D printing technology to produce porous structures of diverse shapes which can be used to make bioceramic bone products. This improves the problem of poor pore connectivity with traditional bioceramics manufacturing. The innovative bone products cater to the needs of both doctors and patients by enabling personalized customization based on where bone reconstruction is needed. The bioceramic substitute is precisely made without requiring cutting during surgery, so not only can the new technology shorten the time it takes to perform a surgery by 30% but it can also reduce anesthesia and infection risks while resolving the shortage of porous bone grafts for clinical use and the problem of insufficient strength of surgical cutting equipment.Yin-Chih Fu from Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital, presented his team's "extracorporeal optical equipment of precise screw positioning." Targeting lower limb fractures that are the most commonly encountered in orthopedic practice, Fu's research enables orthopedic surgeons to conduct precise, safe and fast screw positioning. His team created an image guided surgery navigation system using electro-optical engineering, which reduces radiation exposure for both surgeons and patients by shortening the time surgeons have to spend on surgeries and under radiation exposure while lowering the chance of screw misplacement and increasing the odds of a successful surgical outcome. The system is easy to use and compatible with bone nails and plates of different brands.Endometrial cancer is one of the most common type of cancer in women, which used to be the second most common, following cervical cancer. Guzip Biomarkers (Guzip), a TMU-supported startup, developed the MPap DNA methylation detection kit, which makes use of DNA methylation applied to cervical specimens for rapid screening of endometrial cancer. The test can be completed in six minutes with a 90% accuracy. It can be used by doctors to first assess the likelihood of cancer and then decide on whether to perform invasive procedures such as biopsies. It serves as a very valuable reference helping doctors diagnose endometrial cancer.Chien-Hua Tseng from Shuang-Ho Hospital and his team presented their portable pulmonary rehabilitation device, designed for patients with airway diseases who need breathing exercises to keep their airways open and clear and help expectorate sputum, thereby improving air exchange and patient vitality. Focusing on the way that pressure is generated, the team's portable breathing trainer addresses the shortcomings such as insufficient pressure and pressure changes with air flow. Furthermore, the device is designed with features including visual feedback, vibration expectoration and a simple respirometer. The upgraded version also comes with a flow detector that keeps track of the patient's expiratory flow, performs AI-based calculation on the ideal opening size and issues an alert when detecting signs of patient deterioration. It serves as an ideal remote care device for patients with respiratory diseases.Shih-Ching Chen from TMU Hospital and his team developed a novel transcranial electrostimulation system to treat disability resulting from a stroke, which causes great stress to patients and their family. The team has built a prototype transcranial electrostimulation system that can output a high-precision and high-efficacy waveform. The electrode cap can be custom-made to fit the patient's head and deliver high-precision electrostimulation with one anode corresponding to four cathodes, passing an electrical current to the cerebral cortex. At the same time of delivering electrostimulation, the system also measures the blood oxygen level at the area using near-infrared spectroscopy and adjusts the strength of electrostimulation based on physiological feedback.After the presentations by the six promising startup teams, event guests visited exhibits showcasing the research results of the other TMU and KMU teams and engaged in enthusiastic communication. The teams of researchers and all the guests from the industry agree that the matchmaking event has bridged industry-academia communication and created a win-win situation, which will enable Taiwan's strong medical industry to further build up its competitive edge.Participants at the "TMU x KMU Joint Medical Technology Business Matchmaking" eventPhoto: Digitimes, September 2020