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.

Open RAN (Open Radio Access Network) is one of the options for telecom operators' deployments in the 5G era. As Open RAN can adopt COTS (commercial off the shelf) or GPP (general purposed processor) hardware, such as x86 servers, Taiwan's makers may be able to seize the chance and carve out a piece in a telecom equipment market that has been dominated by Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei.Taiwanese maker are particularly eyeing private networks for enterprises. As hardware-software integration plays a crucial role in Open RAN, Taiwanese makers are not only developing hardware but also honing their system integration capability.Eyeing such business opportunities from private networks include Alpha Networks, which set up a subsidiary Transnet in First-quarter 2019. Its goal is to integrate Qisda's products with its own, first targeting smart manufacturing. It is current testing smart manufacturing lines at its own plants.Compal Electronics has set up a 5G lab or its partners to test its products, such as Lions Taiwan Technology. Askey has set up a smart city department to provide integrated services. It is currently testing its smart manufacturing solutions at a plant in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan.Taiwan makers' deployments for private networksCompanyDeploymentsAlpha NetworksSet up TransnetSeeking to integrate Qisda productsAlpha Networks plant as test siteAskeySet up smart city department to provide integrated servicesCompal5G lab for partners to test productsQuantaSet up Quanta Cloud TechnologySoftware R&DCU/DU/RU end-to-end solutionsSource: Digitimes Research, August 2020

Work- and study-from-home needs in the wake of the pandemic have shored up demand for IT devices, benefitting makers along the supply chian, including Taiwanese panel suppliers who saw shipments for large-size LCD applications shoot up 35% sequentially in second-quarter 2020, according to Digitimes Research. In the LED sector, Epistar has seen utilization rates riswing, thanks partly to strong orders for backlighting applications from the TV segment. In the semiconductor sector, Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS) will take a 22.53% stake in Advanced Wireless Semiconductor (AWSC), looking to create synergy for the developing GaN components.Taiwan large-size panel shipments ride high in 3Q20, says Digitimes Research: Taiwan's shipments of large-size panels (excluding Sharp's) are expected to grow 6.7% sequentially in third-quarter 2020 after registering a robust growth in the previous quarter, according to Digitimes Research.Epistar sees capacity utilization rise to 70%: LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar has seen utilization of production capacity rise from 50-60% in the second quarter of 2020 to 70% currently due to increased demand for LED chips for backlighting, lighting and fine-pitch displays, according to the company.SAS, AWSC team up for GaN components: Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS) and Advanced Wireless Semiconductor (AWSC) have struck a strategic alliance under which the former will acquire a 22.53% stake in the latter through private placement. The equity investment will allow SAS to become the largest shareholder of AWSC, and the pair will be jointly developing gallium nitride (GaN) components.

Taiwan Mobile and Formosa Plastics Transport (FPT) have unveiled two autonomous vehicles for trial operation along a 3km road in a retiree commuinity.The vehicles will serve the Chang Gung Health and Culture Village developed by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, an affiliate of FPT.The vehicles are developed by a consortium, with Taiwan Mobile providing a 5G dedicated network and cloud computing services, FPT providing vehicles and the field for trial operation, National Taiwan University developing an autonomous driving system, Ming Chi University of Technology integrating sub-systems, and iAuto Technology integrating vehicles' sensors, control and decision making.iAuto won a runner-up prize at 2019 Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport.The trial operation in the PoS (proof of service) stage will end in second-quarter 2021 and then PoB (proof of business) trial operation for various scenarios will follow.Formosa Plastics Transport chairman Chen Sheng-kuang (left) and Taiwan Mobile president Jamie Lin (right) Photo: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, August 2020