Taiwan-based startup Velodash has developed an app to allow cyclists to plan cycling routes and arrange group rides as well as to provide management system, including route planning and real-time tracking of cyclists,for cycling event organizers. It has recently raised NT$21 million (US$698,300) in an angel round of funding.Company co-founder and CEO Molly Huang talked to Digitimes in an interview about Velodash's outlook and plans.Q: The Singaporean government adopted Velodash's app for recording participants' performance in a cycling event at the Singapore National Games in late July-early August 2018. What's Velodash's progress since then? What is Velodash's next step?A: At the event, Velodash noticed the need to precisely meet clients' demand, as event organizers have to be responsible for participants' safety. But the app at the time could only display the locations of all participants but did not provide management functions for assigned tasks. Velodash, inspired by the observations at the event, has developed Staff, an app functioning as a smart control center for tracking all participants and displaying locations of rescue resources such as ambulances, and the statuses of incidents that are being handled. Staff will be launched later in 2020.By virtue of cycling events, the number of Velodash app users has increased from over 3,000 in August 2018 to more than 30,000 at present. Velodash has expanded the user base from B2C (individual users) initially to also include B2B (enterprises and event organizers).The fund raised in the angel round will be used to expand workforce from eight staff members currently to 15. Velodash will tap overseas markets in Asia, with Japan to be the first one. In addition, Velodash plans to further raise funds in mid-2021 or 2022 for taping additional overseas markets such as the US.Q: Are B2B clients mainly professional cycling events such as Tour de France?A: Professional cycling events usually adopt customized apps due to confidentiality. Velodash focuses B2B clients on organizers of amateur events or bicycle vendors who organize their own cycling teams for sales promotion.In fact, amateur cycling teams and people fond of cycling make up the largest demand. Members of amateur cycling teams, mostly aged above 35, usually go on cycling in group during weekends and they need mutual care.Q: Will Japan-based Nippon Platform Group, one of the angel investors, help Velodash tap markets in Japan and other Asian countries? Is it in strategic cooperation with Velodash?A: Nippon Platform Group has not asked for strategic alliance despite its angel investment, but will maintain cooperation with Velodash.Q: What are the business opportunities in the Japan market? Are there competing products?A: Japan is the largest market in Asia. In view of concentration of international tourists in main cities, the Japanese government has been making efforts to divert tourists from big cities to rural areas. However, public bus services in rural areas are very infrequent and thus bicycles become an ideal transportation tool. Local governments in Japan are also inclined to sponsor cycling activities or events in rural areas. Therefore, Velodash's sales promotion in Japan will begin in rural areas rather than in big cities. Besides, as there are various folk festivities, such as carrying of sedan chairs, on many traditional festivals in Japan, Velodash plans to provide a common platform for activity organizers to create content on demand.Q: In addition to GPS, AI-based algorithm and IoT, what other technologies will Velodash adopt?A: Besides collection of data on location, Velodash plans to use GPS to establish its own map system, tentatively dubbed VeloMap. Because Google Map contains much unnecessary information for cyclists, our map system will focus on information really needed by cyclists such as locations of coffee shops for taking rests, repair stores and restrooms, and allow users to edit and update information. Velodash will encourage store operators to join the map system.Q: How can Velodash maintain users' stickiness?A: Velodash encourages users to create unique content. For example, Velodash-developed route planner enables cyclists to recommend their favorite cycling routes for sharing.Velodash co-founder and CEO Molly HuangPhoto: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, February 2020

The server sector has been almost unscathed by the coronavirus outbreak that has spurred stay-at-home economy. There has been strong demand for servers to support e-commerce, video streaming, e-sports, teleconferencing and collaboration platform applications for people avoiding leaving home or undergoing quarantine. Memory demand from the server and datacenter sector has also been strong, with vendors expecting prices to go up this year. For others in the ICT industry, such as the handset industry, the outbreak has wreaked havoc. But Apple reportedly will still be launching a new entry-level LCD iPhone that has already come to its final stage of verification at its manufacturers. Server sector unscathed by coronavirus outbreak: The PC and handset supply chains are being hard hit by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, but the server sector has been almost unscathed, as the epidemic has spurred stay-at-home economy and in turn fueled demand for servers, according to industry sources.Memory demand for servers and datacenters surges: DRAM and NAND flash memory demand for server and datacenter applications has started picking up and surging recently, despite weakness in demand for PCs and consumer electronics products, according to sources at channel distributors.New entry-level LCD iPhone reportedly enters final verification stage: Apple's new entry-level LCD iPhone, tentatively dubbed iPhone SE2, has entered the final stage of engineering validation in Zhengzhou, China, where the vendor's major manufacturing partners Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron run assembly lines, according to industry sources.

TSMC is unqestionably the global leader in the pure-play foundry, but it is also gearing up efforts expanding its presence in the backend sector. Its advanced wafer-level packaging capacity is set to enjoy rising utilization in second-quarter 2020. TSMC has not been much affected by the coronavirus outbreak, unlikely many other manufacturers in the IT and semiconductor sectors. But Foxconn has disclosed that it expects to resume normal production in China by the end of March. The outbreak may be hitting hard the hadnset market, but Samsung and Huwaei have been keen to roll out their foldable devices featuring flexible AMOLED screens. Rising popularity for flexible AMOLED is expected to benefit BOE Technology, a major supplier of such displays.TSMC advanced packaging capacity utilization to climb: Pure-play foundry TSMC has been expanding its presence in the advanced wafer-level packaging field, and is set to enjoy rising utilization of its backend capacity starting the second quarter of 2020, according to sources at dedicated OSAT companies.Foxconn to resume normal production in China by end of March: Foxconn Technology, the world's largest EMS provider, expects to resume normal production in China - where the majority of its manufacturing facilities are located - by the end of March, and forecasts its revenues for the first half of 2020 to stay flat as compared with a year earlier, according to company chairman Young Liu.BOE making headway in flexible AMOLED: BOE Technology is expected to continue to enhance its presence in the flexible AMOLED panel sector as handset brands including Samsung Electronics and Huawei remain committed to rolling foldable smartphones this year despite the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, according to industry sources.

The Taipei City Government, via cooperation with Turing Drive, will begin trial run of autonomous electric buses on a designated road in the city at midnight in May 2020.The autonomous buses will run from 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. at 10-20km/hour during the trial on a bus-only lane.Turing in 2019 applied with Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) for a one-year project to experiment technological innovations in unmanned vehicles, and obtained approval in February, the city government said.Turing is the coordinator in the project, which also consists of ThinkTron, which is responsible for establishing high-resolution electronic maps; International Integrated Systems for connecting the trail run with the city's traffic lights information system; AIMobile for installing cameras at road intersections; Tron-e Technology for making the autonomous electric buses; and Trillion Green Energy for designing a control system for the vehicles.In March and April will be preparation for the trail run, mainly readying two 6m-long autonomous electric buses and a 4m-long one, establishing high-resolution electronic maps and installing detection systems at intersections of roads, the city government noted.The three autonomous electric buses will be in POC (proof of concept) experiment to test their response to various scenarios during May-August, with technical staff members on board but no passengers. Based on results of the POC experiment, POS (proof of service) trials with passengers will be conducted from September 2020 to February 2021.A 4m-long autonomous electric bus that will be tested in TaipeiPhoto: Taipei City Government

With the coronavirus starting to widely spread in many countries outside of China, the semiconductor industry has grown concerned that its performance may be influenced; however, in China, the upstream supply chain there has gradually picked up their paces in production resumption with IC design houses expect their shipments to rise in March. Meanwhile, VisEra, a subsidiary of TSMC is setting up a new color filter plant in Taiwan and is striving for orders from Sony.Spread of coronavirus beyond China to impact 2020 semiconductor market: The spread of coronavirus beyond China is now a challenge that the global semiconductor market is facing this year.Taiwan IC designers eyeing shipments upturn in March: With labor return rates recovering in China, Taiwan-based IC design houses are expected to see shipments start picking up in March as the impact pressure of the coronavirus outbreak on fulfillment of orders was already largely eased in February, according to industry sources.VisEra to build new color filter plant to serve Sony: Color filter (CF) maker VisEra Technologies, a subsidiary of TSMC, will establish a new plant in Longtan, northern Taiwan and is eyeing new orders from Sony, according to industry sources.

Handset sales in China have plummeted in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, which has hit hard both production and consumer confidence. The Chinese governmet reportedly is mulling measures to rejuvenate the handset market, including offering subsidies for 5G phone purchases. While many makers see diffulties returning to normal production, e-paper solution provider EIH says it expects full-scale production resumption in China by the end of March. And as the outbreak has convinced many companies of the need to move some of their production out of China, LED firm Epistar has plans to shift some of the production of its backlighting applications from Taiwan to China in order to hike overall production efficiency.China reportedly to offer subsidies to rejuvenate handset market: China's government and telecom operator are reportedly to join forces to rejuvenate its dwindling handset market by offering subsidies to consumers for the purchases of 5G phones, with related measures likely to be materialized by the end of the first quarter, according to sources from Taiwan's IC suppliers.EIH to see full-scale production resumption in China by end of March: E-paper solution provider E Ink Holdings (EIH) has said that about 600-700 out of its 1,000 employees have returned to its plant in Yangzhou, China enabling the facotry to resume about 40-50% of its production capacity currently.Epistar to hike production capacity for mini LEDs: LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar, optimistic about demand for mini LED applications, has disclosed it will allocate NT$3.5 billion (US$116.51 million) to expand production capacity for mini LEDs.

The coronavirus outbreak has derailed production and consumer demand in China - the biggest manufacturing base for mobile devices and one of the biggest markets for them.Operation at many major mobile device ODMs' China plants is still way below normal levels since work resumed around mid February after an extended Lunar New Year break in the wake of the outbreak. Further upstream at their materals and components suppliers, work resumption has been even much slower.Digitimes Research expects mobile devices shipments to see major declines in first-quarter 2020, and the full-year shipmet volumes will also be much lower than previously expected. And how bad the falls will be depends on the workers' return rates and the supply of materials and components.Global notebook unit shipments for the first quarter of 2020 are estimated to plunge 29-36% than the 17% projected earlier, as severe labor and components shortages and stagnant logistics arising from the coronavirus outbreak are stalling the supply chain in China, which commands over 90% of global notebook production, according to Digitimes Research's freshly published special report about the coronavirus outbreak's impacts on the productions and markets of notebooks, smartphones and tablets. Global smartphone shipments are expected to slip below 1.3 billion units in 2020, including less than 200 million units of 5G models, taking into account the impacts of the outbreak on China and around the world in terms of economic growth.Among IT product supply chains, the tablet sector has experienced less impact from the epidemic as most tablet factories had remained in production during the Lunar New Year holiday, while those located in regions less affected by the virus have begun resuming production since February 10. In general, the tablet sector is witnessing better capacity recovery than the notebook and smartphone sectors.

The coronavirus outbreak is expected to drive many manufacturers, especially those in the electronics sector, to accelerate production relocation from China and rearrange their capacity globalization deployments, but China will remain a global manufacturing powerhouse with unrivalled advantages, including huge domestic demand.In the wake of the US-China trade rows and the epidemic, many Taiwanese firms with manufacturing operations in China have become determined that they should move some production back home or Southeast Asia to diversify risks.But still many other Taiwanese makers are increasing investments in China, especially building new plants in central and western China, seeking to capitalize on policy incentives and abundant talent there to better serve Chinese clients.Many researchers now expect China's GDP growth to reach only 5.5% in 2020 due to impacts of the virus epidemic, but its status as the world's second largest economy and most populous country with enormous domestic demand will still attract large sums of investments.Production localization - a trend ganing momentum among vendors - will still motivate firms to incease their production capacity in China.5G business opportunitiesThe 5G commercialization is set to usher in immense business opportunities for related segments including handsets, base stations, cloud servers and new energy vehicles in the China market, and even China's traditional auto industry is believed to bring new crucial opportunities for components makers.For instance, high-tier connectors will be increasingly demanded to meet high-frequency, high-speed and high-power transmission requirements for 5G and automotive applications, and Taiwanese makers will be in pole position to benefit as their Chinese peers are only technically capable of manufacturing lower-end connectors for general PC, notebook or handset applications.Meanwhile, China's policy support to bolster upgrades and transformations of its local industries is also creating significant business opportunities for Taiwan's makers of automated and smart manufacturing equipment.Besides huge domestic market demand, a series of tax, land and manpower supply incentives offered by the governments of central and western Chinese cities are also attracting supply chain players, especially those gradually losing competitiveness in their operations in coastal cities, to extend their investment reach to the inner land areas. Moreover, investors there can also more easily land orders from Chinese brand vendors.With their plants increasingly incorporating automated and smart production systems, manufacturing enterprises now set eyes on the availability of sufficient higher-end technical talent produced locally.Supporting shipments to Southeast AsiaFurthermore, while many manufacturers have relocated their production in China to Southeast Asia to support shipments to the US amid the US-China trade tensions, some others are also mulling increasing production capacity in China to support shipments to Southeast Asia and even other Asia Pacific areas.The ever-expanding supply chains in Southeast Asia will significantly stimulate economic growth and consumer demand in the regional markets, but the overall supply capacity there alone will be unable to support shipments to the US and the region simultaneously.Taiwanese investors in China can also choose to set up new production capacity in Taiwan, but such a choice has its limitation. As Taiwan is now not a member of either CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership or RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), Taiwan-sourced shipments to Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and other Asia Pacific areas cannot enjoy the same preferential tariffs applicable to shipments originated from China, the sources indicated.Accordingly, as China boasts distinct investment advantages not paralleled by any other parts of the world, it will remain a top destination for investments.

The flat panel industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, as China-based makers have major production lines in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic. And as global panel production is set to be cut by 20% in February, panel prices are also rising. The epidemic has disrupted productions across almost all ICT sectors, leaving many firms without componets and material supplies. Taiwan-based passive components maker Yageo has disclosed that its MLCC and chip resistor inventory has reached 10-year low levels, and it is mulling raising prices. But firms have not been deterred by the virus from advancing their production technologies. Memory makers Nanya and CXMT are gearing up for 10nm-class chip production.Virus cutting panel production by 20% in February: The impacts of the coronavirus outbreak are expected to exact a toll of 20% in global flat panel output in February, with prospects to see the ratio alleviate to 5-10% in March when more workers return to work in China, according to industry sources.Yageo sees MLCC, chip resistor inventory hit 10-year low: Passive components maker Yageo has seen its inventory for MLCCs and chip resistors hit the lowest levels in nearly 10 years and will properly raise prices to reflect increased costs, according to company chairman Pierre Chen.Nanya, CXMT gearing up for 10nm-class chip production: Nanya Technology and Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) are both gearing up to enter volume production of their 10nm-class DRAM chips in the second half of 2020.

The global server shipments so far have only been mildly affected by labor shortages in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, but if the epidemic cannot be contained by the end of March, the server supply chain is expected to be significantly undermined by components shortages, according to Digitimes Research.The server industry has so far seen manageable impacts from China's coronavirus outbreak, as most vendors had prepared extra inventory prior to the Lunar New Year holidays, during which they had kept parts of their workforces at factories to continue production, Digitimes Research's data shows.The inventory build-up for and production during the Lunar New Year holiday were meant to satisfy rising orders from North America's large datacenter players, which has sheltered server ODMs from severe impacts in terms of labor and components shortages that other IT sectors have been suffering.Most server ODMs and component makers were able to ramp up their utilization rates at factories in China to 50-70% shortly after the end of the holiday period - extended due to the outbreak. With still sufficient components supply, makers of CCL are currently seeing slightly better production recovery rates than PCB makers.However, chemical materials and passive components may face tight supply as most of them are provided by small China-based suppliers who are currently having problems resuming production because of a lack of resources to enable their anti-virus measures, and they have yet to receive approval for returning to work local governments.Although the supply chain is only expected to see limited impact in the short term, shortages of labors and components will be a problem for the server industry if the outbreak cannot be effectively contained by the end of March. If that happens, server makers' shipments may slip by over 10% sequentially in the first quarter of 2020.