The US is reportedly mulling imposing sanctions on China's largest pure-play foundry house, SMIC. Such a move could severely disrupt supply of NOR flash, as one of the the world's biggest suppliers for the memory, GigaDevice, relies heavily on the Chinese foundry house. SMIC may suffer as a result of US sanctions, but Taiwanese foundries see bright prospects, with their utilization rates expected to stay high through year-end 2020. Taiwanese IC designers are also queueing up for capacity support from the foundry houses.US ban on SMIC may result in severe shortages of NOR flash: A US ban on China's pure-play foundry SMIC, a supplier to GigaDevice, might lead to severe shortages of NOR flash memory, according to Macronix International chairman Miin Wu.Taiwan foundries see bright prospects ahead: Pure-play foundries including TSMC, UMC and VIS are poised to see their fab capacities continue being fully utilized through the end of 2020, according to industry sources.Taiwan IC design houses striving for foundry support: Taiwan-based IC design houses are striving for capacity at foundry partners whose support will be crucial for their sales performance in fourth-quarter 2020 and first-half 2021, according to industry sources.

Graphics cards vendors have seen impressive shipments in the first three quarters of 2020, thanks to demand generated by the stay-at-home economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. They now expect the new Nvidia GPUs to further boost their graphics cards sales in the fourth quarter. Remote learning has also been shoring up demand for notebooks, paticularly Chromebook devices. Acer, as the top Chromebook vendor, has seen component shortages delaying its shipments. The pandemic may have hit hard the handset market, but later this year Apple is set to launch 5G iPhones. The new Apple iPhone devices' camera setups are expected to feature 7P lens modules.New Nvidia GPU to boost 4Q20 revenue at graphics card makers: The availability of Nvidia's newly unveiled Ampere-architecture GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs is expected to boost revenues at first- and second-tier graphics card makers in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to industry sources.Acer delays notebook deliveries due to components shortfall: Acer has had to reschedule 70% of its notebook deliveries to next month due to shortages of panels and diverse ICs, especially those for educational models which will see strong demand extend to 2021, according to company chairman and CEO Jason Chen.New iPhone series expected to boost adoption of 7P lens modules: Upcoming iPhone devices are expected to feature 7P lens modules, which will prompt Android smartphone vendors to follow suit and heat up competition among Taiwanese and Chinese optical lens module makers, according to industry sources.

In China's push to stimulate economic growth by undertaking new infrastructure projects, artifical intelligence (AI) plays the role of facilitating digital transformation and upgrades to smart operations for various industries.The campaign includes AI, 5G, IoT, cloud computing, blockchain and other new technologies in IT infrastructure.Development of AI applications is being promoted by virtue of open AI innovation platforms and experiment sites for AI innovations.Local government policies focus on: hardware (such as ICs) R&D for AI infrastructure; technology development in terms of platform establishment and data processing; and establishment of experiment sites to test applications.China is progressing well in development of AI applications, but still lags behind the US and others in Europe in basic research and development of AI technology, Digitimes Research noted. China has actively applied AI to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic, including monitoring of the spread of the virus, detection of body temperatures, and AI-based robots for cleaning factories.

Apple is gearing up for the launch of its new-generation MacBook and iPad Pro series powered by its own Arm-based processors, which will be fabricated using TSMC's 5nm process technology. TSMC is expected to start making Apple Silicon in fourth-quarter 2020. Apple's growing adopting of SiP technology is settng a trend that many in the semiconductor sector are keen to follow. And leading backend services providers expect sales from their SiP businesses to climb about 30% in 2020.Apple to increase 5nm wafer starts at TSMC in 4Q20: Apple will kick off its 5nm wafer starts at TSMC for its new Apple Silicon processors starting the fourth quarter of 2020, with monthly output estimated at 5,000-6,000 wafers, according to industry sources.Suppliers gearing up for SiP demand boom: TSMC, ASE Technology, IC substrate makers including Unimicron Technology as well as international materials and equipment suppliers are all gearing up for the SiP (system-in-package) boom fueled by Apple's growing adoption of the technology in its devices, according to industry sources.OSAT providers to enjoy impressive SiP sales growth in 2020: Leading OSAT providers, such as ASE Technology, are expected to see revenues generated from their SiP businesses climb about 30% in 2020, driven by demand for 5G, AI and HPC device applications, according to industry sources.

Apple, keen on boosting its services sales, is fast expanding its opwn datacenters. The US vendor is expected to see a sharp rise in purchases of server components in 2020 and 2021. Meanwhile, demand for 8-inch foundry support has been strong. UMC is ready to raise quptes for its 8-inch fab capacity, which it expects to stay tight for the long term. And UMC is identified as one of the possible beneficiaries if the US threat of balcklisting SMIC materializes, which would shake up the foundry scene Apple raises datacenter server component purchases: Apple has been stepping up its purchases of datacenter server components since second-quarter 2020 with related shipments in full-year 2020 expected to double on year and to continue to grow in 2021, according to sources from Taiwan's server upstream supply chain.UMC likely to raise foundry quotes for 2021: United Microelectronics (UMC) has seen its fabs particularly 8-inch ones reach full capacity utilization, and is mulling raising its foundry quotes for 2021, according to industry sources.Possible SMIC blacklisting may reshape pure-play foundry landscape: The potential blacklisting of SMIC, China's largest pure-play foundry, by the US government may shake up the second-tier pure-play foundry market segment.

The development of open architecture 5G networks has been gaining momentum recently as telecom operators worldwide are under pressure to reduce capital expenditure amid slower-than-expected penetration in the 5G subscriber market, according to Digitimes Research.The coverage of 5G networks is still below 20% on average, Digitimes Research has found.The rapidly escalating US-China tensions have driven the global open network sector closer to a "G2" divide - namely one standard, two ecosystems.The use of high frequency bands for 5G networks effectively increases the speeds of data transmission, which neverthelss comes with high costs for 5G base station deployments. Telecom operators are unable to raise 5G rates much higher due to a lack of killer applications at th emoment. Non-stand alone (NSA) and open networks could effectively reduce telecoms' cost concerns during initial 5G network deployments.The open architecture 5G networks are getting increasing support in the US, as the Trump's administration is promoting a shake-up of the global supply chain and decoupling of the US industries from China's. And the open networks could become an effective solution for excluding Huawai and ZTE from the telecom equipment market outside China.The impact of the US government's efforts to contain Chinese equipment suppliers is likely to continue intensifying, and could lead to the supply chain led by the industries in the US and their allies in Japan, Korea and Europe to operate independently from the ones established in China, resulting in two separate 5G ecosystems.

Handset shipments in the fourth quarter of 2020 are likely to slip from the third quarter as Huawei is said to have cut 30% of its component orders for the upcoming Mate 40 series flagship smartphones, having anticipated troubles for the smartphones' shipments to grow, while foundries are also seeing their orders for handsets in the fourth quarter dipping, but will still enjoy growths in PC-related orders. AMD reportedly is looking to enhance its chips' offering with customized Wi-Fi 6 technologies via cooperation with MediaTek and is planning to penetrate through the dominate of Intel and Realtek in the Wi-Fi chip industry.Huawei reportedly cuts component orders for Mate 40 lineup by 30%, say sources: Huawei reportedly has slashed component orders for its forthcoming Mate 40 series products by 30%, according to sources from Taiwan's handset supply chain makers.Foundries see 4Q20 demand vary for PCs and handsets: Taiwan-based pure-play foundries have seen orders for PCs and handsets ramp up in the third quarter of 2020. Nevertheless, orders for PCs and handsets received thus far for the fourth quarter vary, according to industry sources.AMD looking to penetrate into Wi-Fi chip sector with cooperation with MediaTek: AMD and MediaTek reportedly will start their collaboration with the development of customized Wi-Fi 6 ASIC chips for notebook applications seeking to break the dominance of the Wi-Fi chips segment by Intel and Realtek Semiconductor and further strengthen its competitiveness in notebook chips platforms, according to industry sources.

Memory chipmakers have seen inventory pile up amid weakening demand from the datacenter sector. They have almost four months worth of memory inventory on average, and mobile DRAM inventory levels are even higher. Although components suppliers are conservative about datacenter demand for the rest of 2020, server vendors and ODMS are generally optimistic. PC vendors are also upbeat about their sales in second-half 2020 due to the stay-at-home needs. And they are now devoting moe efforts to the enterprise and gaming segments.Memory chipmakers hold nearly 4 months of inventories: Samsung Electronics and other major chip suppliers have held nearly four months of DRAM and NAND flash inventories on average, due to a slowdown in orders for datacenter applications and overall weaker consumer sentiment than pre-pandemic levels, according to industry sources.Upstream, downstream suppliers vary in datacenter outlook: Mixed messages are coming from the datacenter server supply chain about the outlook for the rest of 2020, with component suppliers expressing caution about demand and system assemblers generally remaining positive.Notebook brands pushing enterprise and gaming models in 2H20: Brand vendors have seen strong PC sales due to stay-at-home activities worldwide and are now primarily focusing on releasing enterprise and gaming models to cater to related demand, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Digital signage, kiosk and commercial PC maker AOpen has disclosed the company and smart medical care solution developer Biomdcare have cooperated to offer an AI-based X-ray osteoporosis detection system.The system combines a Biomdcare-developed AI-based screening solution with medical computers and touch displays provided by AOpen.The medical computers and touch displays comply with EN6060-1 and IEC 6060-1 safety standards for medical devices and can be operated by AiCU, AOpen-developed remote management platform, company president Dale Tsai said.People with osteoporosis usually have no symptoms and the chronic disease is diagnosed when they suffer drastic pains or become disabled due to sudden bone fractures, Biomdcare indicated, adding it is estimated that nearly seven million people in Taiwan have osteoporosis-related problems and more than 10 million people are not aware of their BMD (bone mineral density) insufficiency.

EV-use SiC power semiconductors ae expected account for more than 37% of overall market value for SiC power semiconductors in 2025, up from abot 25% in 2021.Fo EVs, SiC power semiconductors are mainly used in inverters for driving and controlling motors, on-board chargers (OBCs) and fast charging piles.For inverters, SiC power semiconductors in 800V high-voltage operating architecture are 8% higher in overall system efficiency than Si-based power semiconductors. SiC power semiconductors also enable simpler design in heat dissipation system and smaller room for electro-mechanical structure.For OBCs and fast charging piles, SiC power semiconductors, as compared to Si-based ones, reduce energy loss during charging, and the numbers of capacitors and inductors needed.