As more server makers and brands are relocating production lines from China to Taiwan or establishing new manufacturing facilities in the market, Taiwan's role in the server industry has grown more important. Meanwhile, the uprising demand for datacenter servers will continue benefiting Taiwan-based PCB makers in the second half of 2020 despite the upstream supply chain rumor about witnessing datacenter clients decelerating their order pull-ins. Memory ASPs have been declining throughout the second quarter and may have a chance to resume growth in the fourth quarter.Taiwan emerging as new server manufacturing hub: Taiwan is set to become a new manufacturing hub for servers, as Supermicro, Quanta Computer, Wiwynn and others as well as related components makers are fast expanding production capacity to meet growing demand from datacenters and enterprises, according to supply chain sources.PCB orders for datacenter servers to stay robust in 3Q20: In response to the upstream supply chain rumor claimed that several key datacenter players have slowed down the pull-ins of their server component order recently, sources from PCB makers said that they have not seen any deceleration in orders from datacenter clients for the third quarter of 2020.Memory ASPs falling in 2Q20, likely to rebound in 4Q20: Overall ASPs for memory are trending downwards in the second quarter of 2020 along with spot market price falls despite rises in contract prices, but they are expected to resume growth momentum in the fourth quarter of the year, according to Gerry Chen, general manager of memory modules maker Team Group.

Samsung Display and LG Display remained the global top-two panel makers in the first quarter of 2020 in terms of sales value, although the Korean makers have begun to scale down their LCD panel capacities, Digitimes Research has found.Samsung Display alone posted revenues of US$5.4 billion in the first quarter, greater than the combined amount of Taiwan's top-two makers, AU Optronics (AUO) and Innolux.Since the second quarter, however, China-based BOE Technology has been ramping up its panels for notebook, tablet and monitor applications, narrowing its shipment gap against LG Display, which is expected to see its LCD TV panel shipments slash by 10% sequentially in the quarter due to decreased output and demand. Thereby, BOE is likely to outrace LG Display to become the world's second largest panel vendor in the second or third quarter of 2020 at the earliest.China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) experienced the sharpest increases in revenues and area shipments for the world's top-6 panel makers in the first quarter, owing to its capability to wage up the monthly output of its 11G line to its designed capacity of 90,000 substrates in the quarter from an average of 10,000 pieces a year earlier.Digitimes Research estimates CSOT's capacity for large-size panels to grow by a CAGR of 18.6% in 2019-2023 compared to an industry's average of 0.6% for the same segment during the same period.

Global shipments of AR/VR headsets are expected to surge 29% on year in 2020, driven by rapidly growing demand for such gears for consumer and commercial applications to support remote work and study activities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Digitimes Research.The pandemic has prompted consumers to experience more VR applications when staying at home amid lockdowns, leading to shortages of budget VR headsets and hot sales of VR Apps for fitness and social purposes. This, coupled with games, has significantly bolstered the growth of consumer markets so far this year, Digitimes Research said.Meanwhile, enterprises in the auto, national defense, manufacturing and other sectors have massively adopted AR/VR headsets as part of remote production tools to develop new products and render services to clients during the lockdowns.Digitimes research believes that enterprises will be increasingly reliant on AR/VR gears to reduce errand-based travel expenses and cut operating costs even after the pandemic ebbs, which will further drive shipment momentum for such gears.

Sony has postponed the launch of PS5, but makers in its supply chain remain busy preparing shipments for the client's next-generation games console. Backend partners say SoC shipments for PS5 will start next week before peaking in third-quarter 2020. PCB and IC substrate suppliers expect PS5 to be a major growth driver of the sales this year. Meanwhile, cloud server suppliers expect demand to remain robust throughout 2020, probably lasting into 2021, thanks to growing stay-at-home economy in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdowns.PS5 processor shipments to kick off in June, peak in 3Q20: Backend IC packaging and testing service providers will begin shipments of the customized SoCs designed by AMD specifically for PlayStation 5 (PS5) to their downstream partners in the week of June 7 with the momentum to ramp up steadily before peaking in late third quarter, according to supply chain sources.PS5 online launch delay little affects upstream PCB shipments: Taiwan PCB and IC substrate makers in the supply chain of PlayStation 5 (PS5) will see their shipments remain unaffected despite Sony announcing a delay in a planned June 4 online launch of its next-generation home video game console, and are all actively preparing for related shipments, according to PCB supply chain sources.Cloud server shipments to remain in high gear in 2H20 and 2021: Cloud server orders are expected to remain robust throughout 2020 with demand likely to stay strong also in 2021, according to sources from server manufacturers.

The US sanctions against Huawei will not affect only the Chinese tech giant. Its supply chain partners, particularly TSMC, will also take a hit from trade restrictions taking effect in September on tech support for Huawei. The Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment vendor knows well that the US will not let it off the hook easily, and it has geared up chip purchases from Taiwan-based MediaTek. Meanwhile, Taiwan's backend houses have seen increases in testing orders from IDMs whose in-house production has been affected by COVID-19 lockdowns.Fresh US ban on Huawei to impact TSMC and more starting late September: TSMC and other Taiwanese suppliers of Huawei are expected to see their revenues start to suffer in late September from fresh US sanctions blocking companies around the world from using American-made machinery and software to design or produce chips for Huawei and its affiliates, according to industry sources.Huawei to procure more chips from MediaTek: Mobile SoC specialist MediaTek is expected to see orders placed by Huawei surge by as much as 300% in 2020 due to the US government's fresh trade ban on the Chinese vendor, according to industry sources.Taiwan IC testing houses see RF chips orders spike from IDMs: Taiwan-based IC testing houses including King Yuan Electronics (KYEC), Sigurd Microelectronics and Ardentec have seen orders for RF chips ramp up recently from Taiwanese IC designers and US IDMs, with the orders set to drive up their revenues for the third quarter of the year, according to industry sources.

Compal Electronics has established a 5G lab for its clients and partners to showcase their innovations, according to Sheng-Hua Peng, Compal's executive vice president of smart device business.The lab has begun operation since the end of May. It has already installed several solutions including prevention systems for agriculture, industrial remote maintenance, remote medical care and VR streaming of gaming, and the company is looking to showcase different solutions from different partners each quarter.Compal's 5G lab is currently targeting four major fields: smart agriculture, smart medical care, smart manufacturing and gaming, and is cooperating with different partners to deploy their 5G solutions.For smart agriculture, Compal's partner is looking to use 4K or 8K Ultra HD cameras to catch fall armyworms and will need 5G transmissions to send video to backend system for analysis.For medical care, Compal is looking to connect hospital services with 5G networks to allow doctors and medical care staff to have real-time information on patients.For smart manufacturing, Compal is partnering with Adat Technology, which will provide AI algorithm and software to pair with Compal's AR glasses and 5G network to establish a remote maintenance platform that support multi-user functionality.The platform can be used in airline or semiconductor companies to real-time resolve complicated mechanical issues.For gaming, Compal is collaborating with VR Jump, a VR startup.Compal promoting innovations at its 5G labPhoto: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, June 2020

Global shipments of automotive CID (central information display) panels (including those for aftermarket but excluding white-box models) are forecast to fall 9.9% on year to 80 million units in 2020 amid weakening demand for automobiles in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and high penetration rates for cars in developed countries, Digitimes Research estimates.The decline will widen to 14.2%, or 66.4 million units, this year if CID panels shipped to the aftermarket are excluded.While global CID panel shipments fell 5.8% in 2019, affected largely by the US-China trade disputes, such shipments are set to continue tumbling due to supply chain disruptions forcing some automakers to suspend production and crippling consumer demand.While manufacturing activities in China have gradually recovered and CID devices have almost become standards for new automobile models, whether the end-market demand could return to normal following the easing of lockdown measures in various countries will be crucial for reaching stabilization in global CID panel shipments.CID panels sized in 7.x- to 8.x-inch will remain the mainstream in 2020, with the proportion of above 9-inch ones to go up gradually. The ratio of mid-sized CID panels against total shipments will decrease to 66.4% in 2020, while the ratio for 9-inch above models will move up to 18.6%.

Government-sponsored Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) has disclosed it will establish a development fund for incubating cultural content creation projects.With initial capital of NT$100 million, the development fund aims to incubate more than 100 cultural content creation projects and will introduce a market-oriented mechanism to match creators with domestic and international investors or business partners.There is sufficient energy for creating cultural content in Taiwan, but the environment for a supporting industry is not mature, said TAICCA chairwoman Celest Ting.Content creators have difficulties securing subsidies, and relatively unknown creators can hardly attract investors, Ting said, citing some of the problems facing content creators.Taiwan's cultural content creation industry faces three main challenges: intellectual property output is insufficient; types of IP are not diverse enough; difficulties in accessing financial support and international channels, Ting noted, adding TAICCA's fund is meant address such problems and challenges.TAICCA recently cooperated with crowdfunding consultant Backer-Founder to invest in Angelic-Founder, Backer-Founder's affiliate engaged in RBF (revenue-based financing) investment in cultural content creation businesses.RBF has return on investment coming from ticket sales revenues (such as those for concerts), software sales, and movie royalty fees, according to Backer-Founder CEO Lin Ta-han. RBF investment, unlike venture capital investment, features quick return on investment to facilitate circular use of investment capital, as well as no intervention in the creation process, Lin noted. Through TAICCA's investment, Angelic-Founder aims to invest in 60 pieces of cultural content creation in five years.

Electric scooter sharing service operator WeMo Scooter and Taiwan Mobile has cooperated to equip the former's bikes with the latter's high-accuracy PM2.5 sensors to dynamically collect real-time air pollution data in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan.The 24-hour automatically collected real-time PM2.5 data will be transferred to the cloud via the telecom carrier's wireless mobile networks for analyses and predictions using Taiwan Mobile's AI model, WeMo said.WeMo said it started electric scooter sharing services in Kaohsiung in October 2019, and plans to deploy 5,000 scooters in three years, There are about 700 WeMo scooters available in Kaohsiung currently and the number will increase to 1,500 by year-end 2020, WeMo indicated.Taiwan Mobile has installed such PM2.5 sensors at 85 places in the city and the data they collect will be combined with those from the mobile collection for overall analysis, the company said.Taiwan Mobile in April 2020 installed such sensors at 200 locations and on 20 public buses in Taichung, central Taiwan.

The coronavirus pandemic has fueled demand for a number of devices, including notebooks, to support stay-at-home activities, with chip vendors expect shipments to these segments to remain strong till October. Networking ASICs will likely see prices rising in the second half of 2020. And the growing requirements for connectivity in support of remote work and study has also spurred the forming of a Wi-Fi 6 ecosystem. Meanwhile, volume production of Apple's upcoming iPhones are said to start in July-August.Demand for networking, notebook, healthcare chips to stay strong till October: Pandemic-triggered robust demand for networking chips, notebook chip solutions, healthcare sensors and MCUs is expected to last into October, with networking ASICs, in particular, likely to see price hikes in the second half of the year, according to industry sources.Wi-Fi 6 ecosystem fast taking shape: As network connectivity is growingly necceary for users of notebooks and other electronics devices in their remote work and learning activities, a new ecosystem associated with the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology is taking shape fast, with chipmakers rolling out diverse chips solutions and system makers incorporating them into a variety of terminal consumer electronics, according to industry sources.Volume production of new mainstream iPhone models to start in 3Q20, say sources: Although the planned launch of Apple's 2020 iPhone lineup, reportedly to come in four models and three sizes, is likely to be in October instead of September, volume production of the mainstream 6.1-inch models are expected to kick off in July-August, according to sources familiar with the matter.