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

The mature notebook market has seen robust demand thanks to stay-at-home needs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Third-quarter 2020 notebook shipments hit a record high, driven by better-than-expected education procurement orders catering to back-to-school demand, according to Digitimes Research. The server sector is another beneficiary of pandemic-triggered demand this year. Microsoft has just announced plans to build an Azure datacenter in Taiwan with aims to turn the country into the firm's Asian operations hub. And Taiwan's LCD panel makers are expected to see shipments for IT applications stay in high gear in foruth-quarter 2020.Notebook shipments hit record high in 3Q20, says Digitimes Research: Worldwide notebook shipments climbed 8.6% sequentially to reach a record in the third quarter of 2020, according to Digitimes Research.Microsoft to build Azure datacenter, cloud hardware R&D team in Taiwan: Microsoft has announced plans to build a data center in Taiwan and grow a local team dedicated to the development of Azure cloud hardware and infrastructure, which is expected to accelerate the clustering of a datacenter server supply chain in the country.Taiwan IT panel shipments to remain in high gear in 4Q20: Taiwan's panel makers will be able to maintain their shipment momentum for IT panels in the fourth quarter of 2020 although their combined ratio to global shipments is likely to edge down slightly in the quarter due to off-peak season effects and tight supply of some IC parts such as CPUs, power management (PWM) and driver ICs, according to Digitimes Research.

Huawei will see its tablet shipments in 2021 undermined by the US trade sanctions as the Chinese brand is unable to obtain processors from Qualcomm or MediaTek, or outsource in-house developed chips to wafer foundries such as TSMC, according to Digitimes Research.Huawei, Apple and Samsung Electronics are the top-3 tablet brands worldwide. Compared to the worldwide deployments by Apple and Samsung, Huawei mainly ships its tablets to China, Southeast Asia and Europe with nearly 60% of the volumes going to China and around 40% to countries in Asia Pacific and Europe.Huawei's problems have already prompted other tablet brands to start cannibalizing the Chinese vendor in its doemstic market.In China's tablet market, Apple currently has a 42% share, Huawei 33%, Microsoft 3.5% and Lenovo 3%. Since Microsoft's products are mainly 2-in-1 devices, Apple is expected to expand in the high-end maket models and Lenovo in the mid-range to entry-level ones.At the moment, Huawei's processor inventory is expected to last until the second quarter of 2021. Since Huawei is still allowed to obtain CPUs from Intel and AMD, Digitimes Research believes Wintel-based high-end tablets is likely to be a way out for Huawei.Huawei will focus on the China market and cut output for overseas markets. Digitimes Research expects Huawei's share of China's tablet market to slip to 22% in 2021, while Apple's share will reach 46.4%, Microsoft 4% and Lenovo 9.6%.In non-China markets, Huawei's tablet shipments will continue to decrease in Japan as Huawei is no longer authorized to use the Android operating system and Apple will take over most of its share there. In other countries in Asia Pacific and Europe, demand will mostly be taken over by Samsung.Huawei's global tablet shipments are estimated to suffer an over 50% on-year decline in 2021 due to the trade sanctions. Meanwhile, Apple's global tablet shipments will rise 5% on year in 2021. Volumes of Samsung will pick up 10% thanks to shifted demand from Huawei and the strategy of pushing entry-level tablets by outsourcing their production to Chinese ODMs.Lenovo will enjoy an over 20% on-year growth in global tablet shipments as demand from China will increase dramatically.

BSOS has developd BridgeX enterprise tool for practicing blockchain, and Suplex platform for polycentric business ecosystem, according to the company.BSOS said mere data storing on blockchain is not enough to create a valuable polycentric ecosystem, and the key lies in dealing with the challenges concerning identity, privacy, and value recognition based on DLT (distributed ledge technology) to meet real and complicated needs by businesses.BridgeX consists of four sets of tools designed to separately address different issues: private key management, public key infrastructure, data privacy, and data tokenization. While each of the tools can be applied independently, they can also work together to create synergy. All tools are designed to be cloud native and can easily be deployed to the cloud or private data centers.Suplex is a platform for value creation and circulation based on accounts receivable. With core enterprises as the center of value creation and DLT as the medium for value circulation, the platform makes up a symbiotic ecosystem where suppliers, core enterprises, and fund providers thrive together, radically unlocking the power of supply chain finance, it said.BSOS was founded in 2018 and obtained investment from the Angel Fund under Taiwan's National Development Council in 2020. BSOS is the only Taiwan-based company certified by the blockchain consortium JP Morgan Quorum and one of the 15 companies certified by the blockchain consortium Hyperledger Fabric worldwide.According to MarketsandMarkets, the global market value for blockchain in 2020 is estimated at US$3.0 billion and will increase to US$39.7 billion in 2025 at an average CAGR of 67.3%.