Jorjin Technologies has unveiled J-Reality AR smat glasses featuring 5G connectivity to enable hands-free remote collaboration, according to company chairman Tom Liang.Based on a modular design, J-Reality comes in various models separately for smart manufacturing, medical care, exhibition and online gaming, and Jorjin has cooperated with corresponding partners, including Chunghwa Telecom, Yuan Rung Hospital, Information Technology Total Services, Far East Machinery and Fun2 Studio.J-Reality can enhance audio/video entertainment experience, letting users feel like seeing a 120-inch 3D screen four meters ahead, Liang said.Jorjin's June consolidated revenues reached NT$23.5 million (US$792,000), shrinking 2.92% sequentially and 30.62% on year. Consolidated sales of NT$81.6 million for second-quarter 2020 grew 43.01% sequentially but dropped 33.64% on year, and those of NT$138.6 million for January-June declined 48.15% annually.Jorjin's J-Reality AR smart glasses Photo: Vincent Mao, Digitimes, July 2020

The outlook for the handset market in second-half 2020 remains highly uncertain and messages coming from the supply chain have been rather mixed. Samsung's upstream partners have disclosed that Samsung is rather cautious about placing components orders for its soon-to-be released Galaxy Note 20 5G devices. Handset mainboard and CCL suppliers still expect seasonal demand to pick up, with good order visibility from Apple for 5G iPhones, though Chinese clients have yet to provide them with shipment estimates for the second half.Samsung cautious about placing component orders for Note 20 5G lineup: Samsung Electronics appears to have become cautious about placing component orders for its upcoming Galaxy Note 20 5G lineup, showing concerns about the prospects of the global smartphone market amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to sources from Taiwan's handset supply chain.Handset mainboard makers still expect seasonal demand to pick up in 2H20: Handset mainboard makers such as Compeq Manufacturing and CCL suppliers including Elite Material (EMC) still expect a pick up in seasonal demand in the second half of 2020 with better visibility for shipments to Apple, though Chinese vendors have yet to provide clear estimates for their demand, according to industry sources.FPCB makers building new capacity in 2H20 for 5G iPhones: Taiwan's flexible PCB makers Zhen Ding Technology and Flexium Interconnect, and flexible CCL supplier Taiflex Scientific are all gearing up to ready new capacity in the second half of 2020 to support shipments for new iPhones, according to industry sources.

The penetration of mmWave in the 5G market will be slower than expected. MediaTek reportedly has decided to push back its launch of mmWave 5G SoC lineup to 2021, with Chinese handset vendors now mainly focusing on sub-6GHz. It remains to be seen how strong the demand for 5G smartphones will be in second-half 2020, and memory chip prices may fall if smartphone sales disappoint. But the notebook market remains robust thanks to the stay-at-home economy. Notebook battery makers have clear order visibility for the third quarter.MediaTek to push back launch of mmWave 5G chips: MediaTek has decided to push back the launch of its mmWave 5G SoC lineup to 2021, with mass production unlikely to take place until the second half of next year, according to industry sources.Memory prices may fall if smartphone sales disappoint in 2H20: DRAM and NAND flash memory prices will turn weak and start falling over the next two to three quarters, if smartphone sales buck seasonal trends and disappoint in the second half of 2020, according to industry sources.Notebook battery demand remains robust: Taiwan-based notebook battery module makers Simplo Technology, Dynapack International Technology and Celxpert Energy continue to enjoy better-than-expected orders from their notebook clients, according to industry sources.

Though there is still uncertainty lying ahead because of the coronavirus pandemic, fabless IC designers are still anticipating a seasonal pick-up in demand from end market segments includign 5G phones. The IC designers are requesting more capacity support from their foundry service suppliers. And 5G infastructure construction in China is boosting shipments of optical components from Taiwanese makers. For passive components maker Yageo, sales in second-quarter 2020 rose thanks to improved utilization rates at its China plants.Major Taiwan fabless firms strive for more foundry support: Taiwan's first-tier IC design houses, such as MediaTek, have demanded more capacity support from their foundry partners recently, according to industry sources.Optical component makers see increased shipments for 5G: Taiwan-based optical component suppliers have seen shipments for 5G base station and other applications start gaining momentum thanks to an acceleration of 5G infrastructure construction in China, according to industry sources.Yageo posts over 30% revenue increase in 2Q20: Passive components maker Yageo saw its second-quarter revenues climb 34.4% sequentially to NT$13.47 billion (US$457.7 million), thanks mainly to improvement in factory utilization rates in China.

China accounts for a third of the global car market. And of the 2.2 million electric vehicles (EV) sold worldwide in 2019, 48.2% were sold in the China market. No wonder China carries so much importance in the car industry.Around 2000, car vendors from around the world flocked to China. There were so many foreign cars running in China that the country was described as a "colony" of foreign carmakers.But 20 years on, the car industry has seen drastic changes. European, US and Japanese car vendors may still be leaders in the market, but they rely heavily on production in China.And for EV production, six of the global top-6 EV battery makers are Chinese firms. The importance of batteries in EV production must not be underestimated: Batteries account for over 40% of the cost of an EV. And of course, the production of EV batteries involves the supply of rare earths, a sector which China dominates. What will the future be like for Western carmakers and Taiwanese suppliers when the age of EV arrives?Foreign carmakers flocked to China after it entered WTO. The world's top three automakers, General Motors (GM), Volkswagen and Honda, all have more than 30% of their vehicles manufactured in China. In particular, GM's factories in China account for 45% of its production, and VW's 38%. That is, the world's largest automaker VW produces slightly over 10 million vehicles a year and four million of those are made in China. GM makes three million cars in China.Foreign automakers rely heavily on China, which at the same time has developed a strong car industry of its own. But China is not eyeing the traditional fossil fuel cars or doing manufacturing for foreign car vendors. Rather it is keen on developing EVs, car components integrating software and hardware, and creating services.The future of car industryAt CES 2020, at least 30 vendors showcased their concept cars, including Mercedes and BMW. Mercedes' Vision AVTR, inspired by the movie Avatar, boasts use of clean energy and harmony between humans and nature. The fish scale-like exterior looks like breathable skin, which allows the vehicles to communicate easily with the outside world. Sony's Vision-S concept car, with 33 cameras replacing the rear-view mirrors, demonstrates the Japanese vendor's attempt to tap the car market by leveraging its strength in electronics.Traditional automakers may partner with leading electronics manufacturers, with an aim to replace global tier-1 automotive component suppliers including Japan-based Denso, Germany-based Bosch and Continental, and Canada-based Magna International. Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner does not expect an increase in global automotive production in the next five years. He also foresees that the current business model in the car industry will come to an end by 2030.Does the joint venture between Foxconn and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) mean that when EVs become more popular in the car market, the production process will be similar to that of electronics? Compal, Wistron, Inventec and Delta Electronics are all eyeing the car market in their "post-PC" deployments.Global automotive market, 2014-2019 (m units)Sources: Various car associations and OICA, compiled by Digitimes, July 2020

A smart manufacturing trial base in central Taiwan will extend from experimental production for components to technological verification of smart manufacturing solutions, according to Intelligent Machinery Technology Center (IMTC) under government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).The base, set up by IMTC at Taichung Precision Machinery Innovation Technology Park, started operation in September 2018. The base, equipped with locally-developed machine tools, automation equipment and software, is intended to introduce concept of smart manufacturing to Taiwan-based small- to medium-size makers.As more and more makers hope to introduce smart manufacturing to hike production efficiency and competitiveness, the base has to play an additional role of verifying smart manufacturing solutions to be adopted, helping makers set up smart factories covering planning, equipment development and system integration, IMTC said. For example, a shoe maker planning to set up a factory in Vietnam can install trial production lines, and if proved to be feasible, they can be exported to the Vietnam factory on a turnkey basis.Verification for technological feasibility can help makers save R&D cost and time, IMTC said.The base has so far helped over 100 makers undertake experimental smart production of over 800 models of components used in automobiles, bicycles, machine tools, aerospace devices and various molds.ITRI's smart manufacturing trial base Photo: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, July 2020

The high-speed transmission of 5G will allow games to be played like streaming media and players will no longer need to wait for the contents to be fully downloaded, according to Taiwan-based game developer Winking Entertainment chairman Johnny Jan.Jan noted that games' trials or demos play a key part in attracting players to purchase and if the services can happen instantaneously, it could keep the players enthusiastic and increase the chance for them to make purchase.Cloud computing is another area where 5G can benefit the gaming industry. With 5G, game processing can be fully handled at the cloud server side, which simply needs to transmit the game screen back to the players' handheld devices, Jan said in a speech he delivered at a recent forum on the gaming industry.With the services, the penetration rate of AAA games will rise significantly as all users can enjoy them without needing to spend a fortune to acquire a compatible high-end hardware, he said.In addition to Google, which has been keen on trying to penetrate into cloud computing gaming, telecom carriers, Sony and Nintendo will also begin releasing related services.VR gaming is also expected to benefit significantly from 5G as VR contents generated by the mainframe can be transmitted wirelessly and VR games can also shift from a player to environment (P2E) mode to a player to player (P2P) one.Gaming to be significantly changed by 5GPhoto: Digitimes file photo

TSMC has also developed InFO_SoW (system-on-wafer) technology mainly for processing supercomputing AI chips. Demand for such extremely costly chips may be limited, but TSMC looks to commercialize the InFO_SoW technology in two years. Menawhile, TSMC's aggressive capacity expansion is set to boost sales of Taiwan-based equipment and materials suppliers, as the foundry moves to source more from the local ecosystem partners. Meanwhile, Taiwanese PCB makers see poor order visibility from Chinese handset vendors for second-half 2020.TSMC may commercialize InFO_SoW for supercomputer AI chips in two years: TSMC, after launching 3D SoIC backend service, has also developed InFO_SoW (system-on-wafer) technology mainly for processing supercomputing AI chips and is expected to enter commercial production with the InFO-derived process within two years, according to sources familiar with the advanced packaging process.TSMC fab tool suppliers see promising outlook: Taiwan-based semiconductor equipment suppliers engaged in TSMC's supply chain are set to be among the beneficiaries of the foundry house's advanced process capacity expansion with their short- and mid-term growth outlook promising, according to industry sources.PCB makers cautious about 2H20 shipments to Chinese handset vendors: Taiwan's PCB makers have turned cautious about their shipments for non-Apple handset applications in the second half of the year as most Chinese vendors have yet to give clear shipment estimates so far although traditional seasonal demand should still arrive, according to industry sources.

5G technology's low latency and fast data transfer can help improve IoV functions and hike traffic safety, according to Wu Kun-rong, vice president for Data Communications Business Group at Chunghwa Telecom (CHT).4G enables communications between cars, or between vehicles and infrastructures, as well as in-car informatics, Wu said at a 5G smart city seminar held by HwaCom Systems. Along with increasing installation of various automotive sensors and roadside sensing infrastructures, 5G enables real-time multi-point communications between cars and between cars and roadside sensors.Wu said 5G-based traffic monitoring can be used to adjust traffic lights for preventive control.CHT has undertaken smart transportation projects in cities in Taiwan, using image recognition to collect urban traffic data in combination with data collected via smartphones to estimate traffic flows.

China-based panel maker China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) has decided to invest in Japan-based JOLED, in a bid to develop inkjet printing technology for production of OLED TV panels in the next three years, according to Digitimes Research.CSOT and its China-based joint venture Guangdong Juhua Printed Display Technology showcased a jointly developed 31-inch flexible Full HD inkjet printing OLED display at 2020 CES. Of Chinese display panel makers, CSOT is the most active in developing inkjet printing OLED panels.While it is not feasible to use inkjet printing to produce smartphone-use OLED panels with resolution levels of 350-550ppi (pixel per inch), JOLED has trial-produced inkjet printing OLED panels of over 300ppi, which is sufficient for 21.6-inch 4K monitors (204ppi) and 65-inch 8K TVs (126ppi). JOLED keeps developing inkjet printing OLED toward a resolution level of 400ppi.Founded in January 2015 through combining Sony's OLED business unit and Panasonic's, JOLED has begun small-volume shipments for inkjet printing OLED panels to Sony, Eizo and Asustek Computer for use in high-end and medical monitors.JOLED completed construction of a 5.5G inkjet printing OLED panel production line in November 2019. As JOLED's existing shareholders are unwilling to invest further, CSOT's investment is important for JOLED to bring the production line into operation.While there is room for improving resolution levels, power consumption and service lives of light-emitting materials for inkjet printing OLED, the technology, as compared with conventional OLED panel manufacturing process, has advantages in more efficient use of materials, simpler structure of organic material layers, doing without expensive vacuum evaporation equipment, which will result in lower production cost.