The Taiwanese government is stepping up efforts to help local startups hit by the coronavirus pandemic, including financial assistance.The National Development Council (NDC) has announced it will purchase preferred stocks from Taiwan's startups until October 5, while the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will help them plan their participation at global startup exhibitions to connect them with international capital after the pandemic is put under control.NDC minister Mei-ling Chen pointed out many startups have already conveyed to the government their financial difficulties arising from the outbreak soon after the Lunar New Year holidays in late January and the situation is growing worse with the pandemic spreading fast.Some market observers have pointed out that global investments in startups had already weakened before the holiday period. WeWork, a commercial real estate company that provides shared workspaces and supported by Softbank Group and JPMorgan Chase, called off its IPO scheduled in September 2019, a sign of a downturn for the international investments in entrepreneurship.Research firms also have also noted that Asia only had 23 startups with market values of over US$1 billion in 2019, a sharp drop from 2018's 42.Research firm CB Insights' figures also show that the global startup investment market had a value of around US$77 billion in the first quarter of 2020, down over 12% on year, while Asia had the sharpest drop of nearly 35%.Taiwan's MOST helps bridge startups with international capitalPhoto: Digitimes file photo

China-based Kymco Private Equity Management (Kymco Capital), a managing company for private equity investment funds and privately offered funds, focuses investment in enterprises in the ecosystem of providing mobility services, according to company general manager and managing partner Gary Ding.The ecosystem consists of six areas: Development and production of electric vehicles (EVs); EV batteries; B2B IoV; B2C mobility services derived from B2B IoV; information and communication technology (ICT); and social networking, Ding said.Viewing that DiDi Chuxing's app-based car sharing services and bicycle sharing services operated by Mobike and Ofo changed mobility patterns in China, Kymco was motivated to focus investment on busineses operation closely related to mobility services, believing such operators could become unicorns, Ding said.For electric scooters, Taiwan-based motorcycle maker Kwang Yang Motor (brand name Kymco) is a main shareholder of Kymco Capital and Kwang Yang chairman Allen Ko is also the chairman of the latter, Ding noted.In the area of B2B IoV, Kymco Capital plans to cooperate with operators of delivery services such as for ordered food and integrate real-time road conditions with digital maps to hike their operational efficiency, Ding indicated. For B2C mobility services, retail stores and restaurants will be target participants, Ding said.Kymco Capital regards ICT as a key tool for upgrading mobility services and plans to focus on AI and big data analysis, Ding noted. Social networking is in response to development of B2B IoV and B2C mobility services, Ding added.In the six areas, some enterprise are or will be investors through providing equity capital for Kymco Capital while others are or will be targets of Kymco Capital' investment, and Kymco Capital hopes to play a role of bridge to help them find operating resources, solutions and experimental sites, Ding indicated.Kymco Capital general manager and managing partner Gary DingPhoto: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, April 2020

Both SMIC and HiSilicon play major roles in China's campaign to raise the country's IC self-sufficiency though TMSC has been the major foundry partner for Huawei's chipmaking arm. Now HiSilicon is giving its 14nm chip orders to SMIC, an indication of the Chinese foundry's improved competitiveness. But the Chinese chip vendor still relies heavily on Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem for advanced processes, as it gives more emphasis on 5nm chips for 5G base stations amid weak demand for handset applications. Handset PCB suppliers have also reported low visibility beyond May.HiSilicon places 14nm chip orders with SMIC: China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) with its 14nm FinFET process manufacturing has obtained orders from HiSilicon, according to industry sources.HiSilicon to ramp up 5nm chip orders with backend houses in 3Q20: Taiwan-based backend houses including King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) will see orders for HiSilicon's 5nm chips for 5G base stations ramp up substantially in the third quarter of 2020 as Huawei's chipmaking arm may adjust its product portfolios for 5nm chips to cover more infrastructure applications, according to industry sources.Handset PCB firms see limited order visibility beyond May: Handset PCB specialists' order visibility has extended only to May, and are still unsure about their overall sales results for second-quarter 2020 as orders for June are yet to be finalized, according to industry sources.

The coronavirus pandemic is hitting the hard the smartphone market, with components suppliers disclosing that orders from Huawei and Samsing for their high-end 5G devices have been weak. But chip vendors believe that demand for 5G smartphone solutions is recovering in China, and they are stepping up production for sub-6GHz offerings that will be the mainstream in 2020. For Apple, which may launch its 5G iPhone later than expected due to the impacts of the virus, its partners, TSMC and ASE Technology, reportedly are still ready for backend mass production as originally scheduled for the 5G iPhone's mmWave AiP modules.Sales of Huawei, Samsung high-end smartphones stalled by pandemic: Shipments of 5G-enabled smartphone models from Huawei and Samsung Electronics reportedly have met with headwinds, with supply chain sources indicating that component orders for these high-end models have lost momentum in the wake of the coronaviurs pandemic.5G smartphone chip demand recovering in China: With the coronavirus outbreak put under control in China, China's domestic 5G smartphone market has started recovering with chipmakers stepping up production for sub-6GHz solutions, according to industry sources.5G iPhone mmWave AiP production schedule hinges on Apple strategy: Apple's assembly partners reportedly may defer volume production of 5G iPhones by at least one month amid high uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, but its mmWave AiP modules backend partners including TSMC and ASE Technology are still ready for mass production as originally scheduled, according to industry sources.

Demand for server applications has been strong, fueled by stay-at-home economy amid lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But the lockdowns may disrupt suppliers' production in Southeast Asia, creating shortages for server components. For memory suppliers, they are prioritizing shipments to the datacenter sector to support expanding stay-at-home economy, which is also propelling demand for server memory backend services that PTI offers. Notebook ODMs also saw staggering on-month sales growth in March, driven by users' needs to work and study from home.Concerns about server component shortages emerge: With a number of Southeast Asian countries imposing various levels of coronavirus lockdowns, concerns have been rising about component shortages that may hit the server industry supply chain, according to industry sources.Memory vendors give priority to orders for data centers: Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology now give priority to shipping memory chips and devices for data centers and other server applications, as demand for smartphones is slowing down, according to industry sources.PTI 1Q20 revenues spike 30% on robust server memory demand: Memory backend specialist Powertech Technology (PTI) saw first-quarter 2020 consolidated revenues surge 30.35% on year to hit the firm's second-highest quarterly level at NT$18.81 billion (US$625.6 million), buoyed by strong demand for datacenter storage and other server applications, according to company sources.Compal, Inventec, Acer see staggering on-month revenue growths in March: Taiwan-based notebook ODMs enjoyed increased revenues in March thanks to rising orders from clients, while brand vendor Acer also achieved strong revenue growth in the month.

Apart from its leadership in the foundry sector, TSMC has been making a lot of efforts developing packaging technologies with which it can offer value-added services to customers. It has recently seen an "unexpected" rise in orders demanding its CoWoS packaging services for chips that support stay-at-home needs triggered by widespread lockdowns in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The lockdowns have also propelled demand for notebooks that users need for working and learning from home. ODMs expect significant notebook shipment growth in second-quarter 2020. The pandemic has also sent demand soaring for healthcare and disinfection applications and devices. Many LED makers are now running at full capacity to meet strong demand for UV-C products.TSMC sees CoWoS packaging capacity utilization ramp up: TSMC has seen utilization of its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging capacity rise substantially in the second quarter of 2020, and now runs the packaging production lines at full utilization, according to industry sources.ODMs to see notebook shipments grow in 2Q20, but desktops may drop: With rapidly rising demand for notebooks, Taiwan-based ODMs have primarily focused their capacities on producing notebooks and are expected to enjoy double-digit sequential growths in second-quarter notebook shipments, but shipments of desktops and all-in-one (AIO) PCs may slip sequentially.UV-C LED devices in tight supply: Demand for UV-C LED products for disinfection applications has drastically increased in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, stretching the production lead times at makers of such devices, according to industry sources.

Denmark-based startup BluSense Diagnostics, with major investments from Taiwanese companies, has developed a diagnostic kit that can test COVID-19 in 12 minutes, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).BluSense's kit offers high accuracy, portability and easy operation: Only one drop of blood sample is required from the test subject, and no pretreatment such as centrifugation is required, MOST said, adding that test results can be obtained within 12 minutes.BluSense completed the development of COVID-19 serology test cartridge (ViroTrack COVID-19 IgM / IgG) in March 2020 with the support from Taiwan-based Ten-Chen Medical Group (TCMG) to optimize the detection system, according to MOST. Last week, BluSense had a preliminary clinical verification performed at Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark, with a sensitivity of up to 90%.BluSense, established in 2014, focuses on the detection of infectious diseases. Its Dengue Acute System has obtained the EU CE.The startup has received support from MOST's Germination Program, which helps academics turn their innovations into products in the market.Taiwan-based companies, TaiAn Technologies and Quanta Storage, are main shareholders of BluSense. BluSense's biotech R&D base is located in Copenhagen, Denmark, while the hardware and software center and equipment production are located in Taoyuan, Taiwan.BluSense's BluBox portable medical detection platform is based on a Blu-ray Disc drive, with micro-channel biological detection disc ViroTrack, which is convenient to carry and operate at airports, ports and in other frontline epidemic prevention situations, MOST said.

Sharp has not supplied LCD TV panels to Samsung since 2017 following Foxconn's takeover of the Japanese firm. But that is expected to change soon, as Samsung's in-house LCD panel lines are shutting down, and need to source more LCD TV applications from outside suppliers, including Sharp. Meanwhile, the Korean tech giant is vying for 5G mobile chip orders from Huawei, who is keen to cut its reliance on US supplies. Samsung and MediaTek - its major competitor from Taiwan - are both eyeing the Chinese vendor's entry-level and midrange phone segments. The handset market has been sluggish in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but the notebook market has seen robust demand for enteprise and educational devices supporting stay-at-home needs. Notebook components suppliers have reported strong sales for March.Samsung reportedly to resume purchasing LCD TV panels from Sharp: Samsung Electronics reportedly will resume the purchases of LCD TV panels from Sharp as its panel production arm Samsung Display is accelerating its move to close all of its LCD lines by the end of 2020, according to sources from Taiwan's panel supply chain.MediaTek, Samsung eyeing 5G mobile chip orders from Huawei: MediaTek and Samsung Electronics are both vying for mid-range and entry-level 5G smartphone chips from Huawei, which intends to further reduce its dependence on Qualcomm this year, according to industry sources.Notebook component suppliers report brisk March results: Notebook component suppliers including battery pack maker Simplo Technology and cooling module firm Taisol Electronics have reported impressive revenue results for March 2020, thanks to a pick-up in demand for commercial and educational notebooks.

Concerns about the NAND flash market outlook in second-half 2020 have been triggered by Samsung's reported move of striving to cut its SSD inventory, with the Korean vendor even mulling sending them in the spot market. Meanwhile, Nintendo's Switch game consoles are selling like hot cakes, thanks to increasing stay-at-home activities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Japanese vendors have increased orders with the manufacturers of the Switch consoles. Stay-at-home economy is also fueling demand for passive components used in servers and business-use notebooks. MLCC and resistor makers are seeing rush orders from such vendors.Samsung cutting SSD inventory: Samsung Electronics is striving to lower its SSD inventory levels, a move which has raised concerns about the NAND flash market outlook for the second half of 2020, according to industry sources.Nintendo ramping up orders for Switch: Nintendo is ramping up orders for its Switch devices as demand for the gaming consoles have been rising amid increasing stay-at-home activities in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, according to industry sources.Taiwan MLCC, resistor makers see mostly orders with short lead time: Taiwan-based passive component makers have landed mostly short lead time orders recently from clients seeking to replenish their inventory, with order visibility clear just one month ahead, according to industry sources.

Undeterred by the coronavirus impacts and the cancellation of MWC 2020, China-based smartphone vendors were keen to launch their flagship 5G-enabled models online in the first quarter of 2020 in order to make preemptive presence in the segment, according to Digitimes Research.In spite of their high specs, including Qualcomm's latest mobile CPUs, high resolution displays with a refresh rate of over 90Hz and a touch sampling rate of over 120Hz, LPDDR 5 memory and UFS 3.0 flash, those 5G phones are mostly priced between CNY3,500 (US$494) and CNY4,500, as vendors are aiming at ramping up market share initially, Digitimes Research has found.China's handset players are expected to roll out diverse 5G models for the mid-range segment in the second quarter as mobile chip vendors have released more mid-tier 5G solutions for handset makers to choose from, helping them reduce overall production cost.Digitimes Research believes that there is the possibility of seeing China's handset makers launch 5G models priced below CNY2,000 in the third quarter of 2020.