The global top-5 brands' combined notebook shipments in November 2020 remained robust, reaching the second highest-ever monthly level, thanks to strong sales in Europe and North America amid the resurging coronavirus pandemic, according to Digitimes Research's latest figures from the Notebook Tracker.The top-5 vendors' combined shipments reached the highest-ever monthly level in October.Both Hewlett-Packard's (HP) enterprise and consumer notebook shipments went down from a month ago in November. Lenovo saw its November shipments pick up on month due to increased Chromebook shipments by its Japanese sub-brands and ramp-ups in own-brand Chromebook supplied by its Chinese and Taiwanese ODMs, Digitimes Research's figures show.Dell, which enjoyed major education procurement orders and built up a high comparison base in October, witnessed a sharp on-month decline in November shipments.The top-3 ODMs together saw shipments dip 4% on month in November. Quanta Computer's shipments further increased in the month to reach a new record. Compal Electronics saw a significant drop in November shipments due to weaker-than-expected orders from Dell.

The key to whether something sells or not is not the superiority of the product technology, but whether consumers are willing to pay for it. That's a key message Laura Huang, associate professor of Harvard Business School, delivered at SparkLabs Taipei Demo Day 4 held recently.Digitimes later talked to Huang - who was named one of the 40 Best Business School Professors Under the Age of 40 by Poets & Quants - about the skills of perception that enterprises need to cultivate and what it takes for startups to succeed.Q: Why did you attend the SparkLabs Taipei Demo Day 4? Was it because of the new research you are currently doing?A: Edgar (Edgar Chiu, managing partner of SparkLabs Taipei) and I had mutual friends, which is how we got to know each other several years ago. When Edgar was in Boston last year, he invited me to attend this year's Demo Day, hoping that I could share some insights to startup founders. My research focuses on how investors make decisions to invest in early-stage startups, analyzing the soft variables, such as gut feeling and perception, and the hard variables, such as financials, competitors, and scalability. My research seeks to quantify the soft factors that investors rely on to help understand how these variables relate to decision making. I'm continuing to extend this research and am currently also focusing on the topic of mindset, which I hope will provide insight to Taiwanese companies.In many cases, the key to success is not the superiority of a product's specifications and features, but the willingness of consumers to buy it. It is certainly possible to develop the most powerful product, but if the price is too high or those who can afford it do not want all the features, then the value of the product is not recognized.In fact, many products that have achieved leadership positions in the marketplace are not the most powerful. As I mentioned in my book, "Edge: Turning Adversity to Advantage," the successful businessperson must be able to recognize an adverse market situation, such as economic recessions, and leverage the situation to their advantage. These advantages are of your own making. Therefore, success cannot be achieved by just putting your head down and working hard behind closed doors - something that the Taiwanese are exceptional at and very proud of.Taiwanese are taught from a very young age to "work hard" and "be good," which usually means to not have too many opinions. Often, the Taiwanese put double the effort into their work just to get the same results. The main theme of my research explains that the key to success is not hard work, but to understand what people value and how they perceive you. This gives you a chance to flip any adversity to your advantage. If you can get twice the results with half the effort, why spend twice the effort to get the same results? Isn't the growth rate of 10X or 100X what startup companies are looking for?I have this understanding of Taiwanese culture because my parents taught me these values when I was a kid. However, growing up in the United States, I found Taiwanese values were very different than American values, which became a quick source of frustration for me. Both are valuable, and one is not better than the other. In American culture, self-awareness and social awareness are key, and you can't live in your own world if you want to be successful. You have to be able to understand others and know how others see you. There are dotted lines between these points, i.e., interpersonal relationships.By gaining a deeper understanding of how others perceive us and subtly subverting these views and stereotypes, we can create new advantages out of the limitations and obstacles created by an imperfect system. This is especially important for startups because the focus is not solely on products and services. In business school, we spend 80% of our time learning about marketing, products and services, financial accounting, competition, and so on, but spend very little time discussing people and perceptions. However, when we graduate and go on to start our own businesses, we actually spend 80% of our time discussing people, including customers, partners, and suppliers, to determine whether or not a product can be made and sold. There's a clear disconnect between what we learn in the classroom and what we actually do in the professional workplace. In Taiwan, I would like to see a transformation in the way we think about business education and the reality of the startup workspace as part of the new innovation ecosystem.Companies that embrace the mentality of believing superior technologies are key to success are prone to misinterpret results when doing market research. They often ask engineers to raise the bar for their products by focusing on pixels, lens resolution, and so on. However, I always tell my students that it is important to get customers' real perception of your product or service: you can't just rely on the data. For example, if you ask a consumer, "If my phone can take 30 photos or 99 photos in a row per second, which one would you prefer?" the consumer will most likely say 99 shots without having any idea of what that actually means. Then, the company will turn around and asks their product engineers to make a product that can take 99 shots without taking the time to see how the consumer will use the finished product. This market research does nothing to help the company understand what their consumers care about the most or what they want to achieve with the product. Companies rarely stop and consider if they really need that 99-shot series, or does the consumer actually care more about getting the best visual effect, regardless of how many shots can be taken? The factors that make consumers want to buy go far beyond technical specifications. We spend so much energy on specifications that we neglect the market feedback and user experience that entrepreneurs need to pay the most attention to, and how that feeds back into the design of our products and services.As we engage more with AI, big data, robots, AR and VR, it is easy to fall into the trap of technology and not realize it. Behind every VR goggle and IoT device, there is a user experience. "People" are the key, not technologies.Q: We have heard of examples of large corporations partnered with new startups in search of new applications for their existing products. What advice would you give to corporate venture capital (CVC)?A: CVC accelerators have a 95% failure rate because they don't use the right approach. These accelerators are usually well-funded, and they choose new ventures by cherry-picking: choosing Company A for its intellectual property (IP), Company B for its team's R&D capabilities, and Company C for a certain quality, and then they buy them all. This is because accelerators thought it would be more efficient to internalize innovation. They thought the startups, which have a certain understanding of their company's technology, would have a better chance of success if they used the company's technology and resources as a basis for their R&D. However, what they didn't see was that the startups they bought, such as the startups acquired by Google and Microsoft, recognized this cherry-picking strategy and tried to figure out what the big firms wanted, creating the product accordingly. When outsiders saw what they were doing, they thought it was uninspiring and not innovative because the product was often too similar to the parent company's already existing product. I believe that the struggle that many startups experience can actually be beneficial and lead them to making a product that will attract the most consumers in the market.This is because the products that come out of these in-house ventures will ultimately be tested in the marketplace. This is not to say that all CVCs are not effective, but they need to be designed carefully so that they don't end up catering to parent company's solutions. CVC accelerators are usually the latter, but innovation is often about trying to find a solution to a problem by drawing from multiple solutions that already exist, not the other way around. Innovation often starts with a technology application, and then someone goes back to find a problem and develop its solution.Q: Perhaps large corporations with a lot of past successes also need some level of reset and "learning to unlearn"? The pandemic has brought about many changes, perhaps their perceived successes will become a burden in the future?A: They don't need to unlearn everything, but they do need to know exactly what they need to "prune." This pruning is especially difficult for large companies because they are already successful, and it seems unreasonable for them to alter business practices that have already reaped rewards. While it's important to help them retain their core strengths, they must also continue to push innovation and learn new skills. As I said at Demo Day 4, large companies can be compared to trees in the sense that when they get to a certain size, they must be pruned in order to continue to grow. The hardest part stems from these companies knowing they need to prune, but not understanding which areas to focus on or what new areas to explore.Q: You strongly emphasize the need for companies to be sensitive to the "perception" of others. How do you go about strengthening that sensitivity?A: Perception is actually a skill. If you want to grow your muscle, you need to do certain trainings. I spend almost half of my book talking about how to develop these skills.Don't we spend our entire lives communicating with others in hopes that they will understand us, agree with us, and ultimately do what we want them to do? It is important to understand why, when, and under what circumstances the other person will say "no" to us. So in class, I have my students do an exercise: for a week, they need to have 10 people in 10 different situations say no to them. And for each situation, they have to write a short paragraph describing the situation and present in class.Interestingly, my students found that some people have a fixed communication pattern: when communication styles like tone of voice, words, and facial expressions changed in a certain way, the other person would say "no." They began to observe phenomena that they had previously taken for granted. It's important to train yourself to be aware of how you communicate in order to get your desired outcome. If you go directly to a person and say, "You are not giving me a promotion because I'm a woman," it is natural for them to immediately deny that accusation, even if it's true. When you understand others' perceptions of you, then you can flip any misconceptions to highlight your true talents and strengths, and have deeper and richer conversations and interactions with people.This ability is especially important for startups. Startups need to understand how their different customers, partners and investors perceive them so that they can understand what these different target audiences expect from them. This understanding enables startups to more effectively communicate their message and product in different ways to appeal to their various stakeholders. For example, you don't need to tell an investor a bunch of information about product specifications because they are more interested in learning about the business model. Contrastingly, consumers are quite interested in these product specifications, such as how the product works and pricing. Using your perception skills, you can better understand your different target audiences and communicate more effectively to get more done with less effort.(Editor's note: The Women in Venture series is a collaboration with Digitimes' strategic partner Anchor Taiwan, a platform to connect the world with Taiwan focusing on corporate innovation and cross-border expansion. The Women in Venture Roundtable is a network of 80+ female investors and bi-monthly sessions featuring world-class guest speakers. More info: Anchor Taiwan. For the podcast, see Spotify, Apple Podcast or Soundcloud: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Dy6TKKLIazz8oaCW0oiiE.)Laura Huang, associate professor at Harvard Business SchoolPhoto: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, November 2020

Foxconn Technology Group (Hon Hai Precision Industry) chairman Young-Way Liu has pointed out that quantum computing is attracting more global attention, and the next three to five years would be a crucial period for Taiwanese ICT firms to establish a meaningful presence in this new trend.With the global ICT industry ready to embrace a new era, Taiwan's opportunity to make a headstart in quantum technology will lie in the next 3-5 years, Liu said at a quantum technology forum held in Taipei recently.Taiwan's experience from the semiconductor industry accumulated over the years and a large number of talent developing applications will arm Taiwan with advantages in quantum computing research, Liu noted.A new technology's development always begins with a theory, and then proceeds to engineering before application. At the moment, the quantum technology development is already at the engineering stage, Liu said.With quantum technologies already in engineering development, their applications will come next. The key goal of Taiwan's ICT industry is to catch up at the stage of application and at the current stage of engineering development, he said.Among research centers under Foxconn's Hon Hai Research Institute, two of them are related to quantum technology studies - one focusing on quantum computing and the other conducting semiconductor research, Liu said.Foxconn has also partnered with universities and high schools in Taiwan to provide quantum computing courses, Liu added.Foxconn chairman Young-Way LiuPhoto: Michael Lee, Digitimes, December 2020

SMIC's co-CEO Mong-song Liang has submitted his resignation over a management adjustment. A disgruntled Liang, the R&D leader of China's number-one foundry house, says in his letter of resignation that he believes he is no longer trusted by the company. TSMC chaiman Mark Liu has dismissed speculation that the foundry house has seen clients reduce orders. He maintains that 5nm wafer shipments will drive the company's sales growth in 2021. Tight foundry capacity supply is pushing up production costs at IC vendors. Some NAND flash controller suppliers are now mulling raising prices for their solutions in first-quarter 2021.SMIC co-CEO Liang reportedly offers to resign: Mong-song Liang has submitted his resignation to SMIC's board of directors after the China-based foundry decided to bring back Shang-yi Chiang to its management, according to sources familiar with the matter.No cutback in customer orders, says TSMC chairman: TSMC chairman Mark Liu has dismissed recent speculation that claimed a cutback in 5nm chip orders from Apple would drag down the foundry's 5nm process capacity utilization to 80% in the first half of 2021.NAND flash controller suppliers mull price hike: NAND flash device controller suppliers including Phison Electronics and Silicon Motion Technology have stopped offering quotes for new orders, and are mulling a 10-15% price hike in the first quarter of 2021, according to industry sources.

China's IC foundry industry will register another growth in output next year, driven by the country's efforts in boosting its IC self-sufficiency, as well as international chipmakers' intention of expanding their factory sites locally in China, according to Digitimes Research.In addition to China-based pure-play foundries, such as SMIC and HLMC, China-based IDM and memory foundries all have plans to not only optimize production efficiency but also build new production lines in 2021, said Digitimes Research. IDMs such as GTA Semiconductor and SiEn (Qingdao) Integrated Circuit will have additional 8-inch fab capacity come online next year.IC design houses GalaxyCore and Maxscend Microelectronics are building their production lines in-house that will come online in 2021, Digitimes Research indicated. More China-based fabless firms are looking to grow their manufacturing capability to comply with the country's efforts to boost self-sufficiency in semiconductors.International chipmakers including Samsung and SK Hynix all intend to expand their factory sites locally in China, with additional production capacities set to go online in 2021.But there are concerns about capital shortages and trade sanctions imposed by the US, which may disrupt the development of China's homegrown IC sectors. The escalating US-China trade disputes have brought uncertainty to SMIC's capacity expansion plan, for instance.

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.