The coronavirus pandemic is definitely changing the dynamics of the market and ecosystem, but at the start few would have foreseen the coming of a stay-at-home economy strong enough to turn around the notebook sector. Barry Lam, chairman of notebook ODM Quanta Computer, now predicts the stay-at-home economy to become a new normal, promising long-term opportunities for the notebook and cloud server sectors. The pandemic has hit hard the handset market, slowing down the progress of 5G commercialization. But 5G remains promising, with Taiwan showing strong potential to become a mmWave development base, according to the president of Qualcomm Taiwan and Southeast Asia. In China, its semiconductor firms are striving to improve the country's IC self-sufficiency. One of the areas is the CIS sector.Notebook sector turning around with robust momentum, says Quanta: The notebook industry is turning around significantly with pandemic-spurred stay-at-home economy emerging as a new normal and likely to persist as a long-term trend, promising good opportunities for both notebook and cloud server segments, according to Quanta Computer chairman Barry Lam.Taiwan could develop into a mmWave industry base, says Qualcomm executive: Taiwan has an opportunity to become a base for the development of mmWave technology, leveraging its established industry foundations, OEM/ODM technologies and related talent, according to ST Liew, president of Qualcomm Taiwan and Southeast Asia.China pushing for homegrown CIS sector: China has stepped up the development of its homegrown CMOS image sensor (CIS) industry sector as part of the country's ambitions to achieve self-sufficiency in chips, with SmartSens Technology and GalaxyCore being among the beneficiaries.

The coronavirus pandemic has been hitting hard the consumer device market, in turn dampening demand for memory. The DRAM and and NAND flash markets are expected to see oversupply last into first-half 2021. But in some other markets, strong demand has fueled sales growth for many companies, such as notebook ODMs whose production is badly needed to support stgay-at-home needs. But notebook ODMs' production has been undermined by component shortages. Tight capacity at 8-inch wafer fabs has been blamed for shortages for some IC parts needed for notebook production.DRAM, NAND flash in oversupply: The DRAM and NAND flash markets will be oversupplied until the first half of 2021, according to Chang Chia-kun, president for memory module maker Apacer Technology.Notebook ODMs suffer widening component shortages: Supply of notebook-use chips and components including processors, LCD panels and power chips has fallen short of demand, with the gap likely to widen to 15-20% in the third quarter, according to sources at Taiwan-based ODMs.Eight-inch fab capacity to stay tight in 2021: Eight-inch fab capacity will remain tight until 2021, due mainly to strong demand for display driver ICs and power management chips, according to industry sources.

Kdan Mobile Software, a Taiwan-based developer of mobile device-based collaborative work software solutions, has provided Japan-based Vacan with its DottedSign e-signing service to help the latter's business operation in Taiwan, according to Kdan.Vacan has just launched Vacant Seat Map, a smartphone app for users to check real-time table availability at cafes and restaurants in Taiwan.DottedSign lets customers of Vacan-supported eateries use the e-signing service, and Vacan founder and CEO Kawano Takanobu expects it to the company tap the Taiwan market.Kdan hopes the cooperation with Vacan will help it tap the Japanese market, company founder and CEO Kenny Su said.Smartphone app Vacant Seat MapPhoto: Kdan Mobile Software

Taiwanese panel makers have seen improvements to their sales, and most of them are expected to return to profitability in third-quarter 2020, thanks to rising panel prices amid tight supply and strong demand from the end-device market. AUO has disclosed its order visibility has extended to November with robust demand from all major application segments. But memory module firms had weak results for second-quarter 2020, with profits eroded by falling spot market prices. Panel makers likely to swing back to profit in 3Q20: Most of Taiwan's flat panel makers are expected to swing back to profitability in August as well as third-quarter 2020 thanks to panel prices being driven up by hefty end-market device demand and tight supply, according to industry sources.AUO sees clear order visibility ahead: AU Optronics (AUO) has seen its order visibility extend to November with panel demand from all major application sectors coming robustly, according to company president Frank Ko.Memory module firms post profit drops in 2Q20: Memory module makers saw their second-quarter profits eroded by the weakening of spot market prices.

The world's top-5 notebook brands saw their combined shipments (excluding detachable models) for July 2020 surge 34% on year and slip about 1% from the year's high in June, according to Digitimes Research.The impressive growth was due partly to pandemic-fueled stay-at-home economic activities still lingering, and partly to vendors kicking off volume shipments for Japan's GIGA School Project, which looks to provide one notebook for each student at elementary and junior high schools.Among the vendors, HP saw its July shipments fall 4% sequentially on shrinkages in demand from both enterprise and consumer markets. Lenovo's shipments for the month rose 2% sequentially thanks to its affiliated Fujitsu and NEC ramping up shipments of GIGA School notebooks. Dell's shipments dropped 2% sequentially because of weakening work-from-home demand, but its shipments of Chromebooks and consumer models were better than expected, preventing its overall July shipments from shrinking further.Meanwhile, the top-3 notebook ODMs saw their combined July shipments increase 2% sequentially and 40% on year, with Quanta Computer showing the best performance for fulfilling substantial orders for Chromebooks, Digitimes Research notes.

UK-based Rainmaking Innovation recently inaugurated its Center of Excellence and Expertise in Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP), becoming the third accelerator there.The center is established in line with AI Robot Base, an AI-based robotics promotion and acceleration project undertaken by STSP administration.The center focuses on fields of AI, RPA (robotic process automation), AR/VR/XR/MR, blockchain, robotics, big data, 5G communication, cloud computing, financial technology, cybersecurity and smart city, said Ken Chuang, CEO for Rainmaking Innovation Taiwan.In Taiwan, Rainmaking aims to help local enterprises in digital transformation and link startups with international ecosystems of entrepreneurships and venture capital firms, Chuang noted, adding Rainmaking has incubated 40 startup teams mainly engaged in Industry 4.0, smart city, financial technology and smart medical care since it entered the Taiwan market in 2018.Rainmaking aims to help startups go internationally and create Taiwan-based unicorns through cooperation with large enterprises in Taiwan and its operational bases in 26 cities around the world, Chuang said.Founded in UK in 2007, Rainmaking has set up 31 accelerators around the world and promoted innovation in over 10 vertical fields with total market value of about EUR1.5 billion (US$1.77 billion). Rainmaking has so far accelerated more than 900 startups and won total venture capital investment of EUR1.0 billion as well as formed strategic partnership with over 92 of the world's top 500 enterprises.Rainmaking Innovation Taiwan unveils an accelerator in STSPPhoto: Rebecca Kuo, Digitimes, August 2020

The needs to connect during pandemic lockdowns have spurred demand for servers. Shipments of servers to Facebook in third-quarter 2020 are expected to rise 15% sequentially, according to Digitimes Research. Taiwanese PCB makers are also set to see stable increases in shipments to the server, networking and notebook segments in the third quarter. In the semiconductor sector, backend firms may be losing orders from Huawei/HiSilicon who will not receive capacity support from TSMC starting from mid-September, but robust orders from MediaTek will offset the losses.Server shipments to Facebook to rise 15% in 3Q20, says Digitimes Research: Server shipments to Facebook are forecast to register a 15% sequential increase in the third quarter of 2020, when the social network giant is expected to absorb over 15% of total global server sales, according to Digitimes Research.Taiwan PCB makers look to servers, notebooks for 3Q20 growth: Taiwan-based rigid PCB manufacturers including HannStar Board, Gold Circuit Electronics (GCE) and Tripod Technology are expected to see stable increases in shipments for server, networking and notebook applications drive up their revenues for the third quarter of the year, according to industry sources.IC testers KYEC, Sigurd gearing up for robust MediaTek demand: IC testing houses King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) and Sigurd Microelectronics are both gearing up to satisfy robust demand for MediaTek's chips in the fourth quarter of 2020 following the exit of Huawei/HiSilicon from their ecosystem, according to industry sources.

China with its 14th Five-year Plan (2021-2025) will assist its domestic foundries in the development of advanced 7nm and FD-SOI fabrication process technologies, according to Digitimes Research.China continues to proceed with its semiconductor self-sufficiency strategy, with plans to also help its domestic foundries further expand their existing production capacities during the five-year period.During China's 13th Five-year Plan, the country's foundry sector has advanced its manufacturing process technology to 14nm and will be capable of fabricating chips using a newer 12nm process technology this year. The transition to more-advanced 7nm process, as well as specialty technology namely FD-SOI, will be the next target during China's next five-year plan.SMIC, China's most advanced and largest foundry, will be developing its 7nm, sub-7nm and EUV-based process technologies over the next five years, in line with the goal set forth by China's 14th Five-year Plan, Digitimes Research believes.

Server shipments to Facebook are forecast to register a 15% sequential increase in the third quarter of 2020, when the social network giant is expected to absorb over 15% of total global server sales, according to Digitimes Research.But shipments to Amazon, Microsoft and Google are likely to decline on quarter, with those to Microsoft to see the largest sequential fall of over 20%.The decline in shipments to the three cloud services providers will result from a slowdown in demand from their enterprise users, as many businesses engaged in aviation, travel, retail and catering services as well as smaller enterprises or startups have deferred uploading their data to public clouds to cut IT expenses amid the coronavirus pandemic.But Facebook has benefited significantly from pandemic-induced demand for remote social activities, with its monthly active users picking up steadily. This has enabled Facebook to maintain strong server shipment pull-in momentum, Digitimes Research notes.Facebook mainly demands high-density 4U16N multi-node computing servers enabling massive data computing and storage to support the operation of its huge video data platform, adding momentum to its server shipments.Additionally, Facebook initiated the formation of the Open Compute Project (OCP) in 2011, providing the most influential reference architecture design standards for datacenter servers needed by the four major datacenter operators in the US.Taiwan's Inventec, Quanta Computer, Foxconn Technology, Wiwynn and MiTac Computing Technology are major contract server producers for the US web giants. Among them, Wiwynn, Quanta, and Inventec are expected to gain increases in shipments to Facebook in the third quarter.

Applied Materials reportedly is inviting parts and componets partners to join a program to boost the US fab tool maker's presence in the after-sales maintenance and upgrades market serving TSMC and other semiconductor firms. TSMC saw its July sales decline more than 12% sequentially, but its third-quarter 2020 sales are still expected to grow. For Nan Ya PCB and Kinsus, their ABF substrate shipments will remain strong in the third quarter thanks to strong demand from the HPC chip segment.Applied Materials reportedly looking to work more closely with suppliers for after-sales maintenance: Applied Materials is looking to work more closely with its parts and component suppliers for the after-sales maintenance and upgrades of its fab tools, according to industry sources.TSMC posts decreased July revenue: TSMC saw its July revenue decline 12.3% on month but remain above NT$100 billion (US$3.4 billion).Nan Ya, Kinsus to see 3Q20 revenue gains from ABF substrate shipments for HPC chips: Taiwan's IC substrate makers Nan Ya PCB and Kinsus Interconnect Technology are optimistic that their revenues for the third quarter of 2020 may grow 20% sequentially and profits may improve further on shipments of ABF substrates for processing new HPC chips offerings launched by US vendors in the second half of the year, according to industry sources.