Apple has reported record earnings for its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter, fueled by accelerating growth from its services, wearables and iPads. Apple is expecting strong growth for its fiscal 2019 fourth quarter, but it remains to be seen how much momentum will coming from its new iPhone 11 series and freshly-launched AirPods Pro. Its iPhone 11 series has seen better-than-expected sales, but market observers believe annual iPhone sales will no longer be able to return to the peak seen in 2014 when iPhone 6 was released. Wearables are likely to continue shoring up Apple's profitability, but AirPods Pro shipments are estimated to account for only a small portion of the vendor's overall earbuds shipments in 2019.Apple reports strong earnings for fiscal 4Q19: Apple has posted revenues of US$64 billion for its fiscal 2019 fourth-quarter ended September 28, an increase of 2% from the year-ago quarter, with quarterly earnings per diluted share reaching US$3.03, up 4%.New iPhone sales may soon hit ceiling, supply chain facing quotes reduction pressure: Sales of the new iPhone 11 series have been stronger-than-expected but may hit the ceiling soon, which may eventually create pressure for supply chain partners to cut quotes, according to industry sources.AirPod Pro shipments estimated at 2 million units in 2019: Shipments of Apple's just-unveiled AirPods Pro are estimated at only two million units this year, according to industry sources.

Worldwide notebook shipments are forecast to drop 1.8% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2019 after registering a nearly 2% increase in the prior quarter, according to Digitimes Research.With the US set to impose a tariff on China-imported notebooks beginning mid-December, most notebooks brands remained keen on pre-stocking extra inventory during the third quarter, while strong demand from the enterprise sector and the fact that Huawei's notebooks were still in production, also contributed to the shipment growth in the third quarter.As most brands have already built high levels of inventory and Intel's CPU shortage issue has not yet been fully resolved despite its capacity expansion, global notebook shipments are expected to dip sequentially in the fourth quarter, but will still register on-year growth, Digitimes Research numbers show.Top-brand Hewlett-Packard (HP) will perform strongly in the enterprise sector, but its overall performance will not be as well as competitors due to negative factors including business re-organization and supply chain relocation. Lenovo, in second place, will see shipments pick up slightly on quarter in the fourth quarter thanks to Chinese e-commerce platforms' seasonal promotion activities, but the proportion of its shipments from Taiwan ODM partners will slip.Third-place Dell will see fourth-quarter shipments drop sequentially due to the company's less competitive strategy for inexpensive consumer models despite steady sales for enterprise models.Apple and Microsoft are both expected to perform strongly in the fourth quarter. Apple's new 16-inch ultra-thin-bezel MacBook Pro is expected to begin volume shipments in the fourth quarter, while Microsoft's new third-generation Surface Laptop will boost sharply the brand vendor's shipments sequentially in the fourth quarter.Because of Apple's new MacBook Pro, Quanta Computer, the key supplier of the machine, is expected to see rising share of Taiwan's shipments in the fourth quarter, while Wistron and Pegatron will also see their shares grow thanks to Dell and Microsoft ramping up orders.

Tiger Accelerator has been devoted to helping Taiwan's healthcare startups and tech enterprises set up virtual headquarters in the EU and tap market opportunities there since its founding in Taipei in July 2018, according to company founder Valerie Hsu.Hsu said her company is actively helping at least six Taiwanese healthcare startup teams build connections with hospitals in Europe and collect medical data, paving the way for their substantive cooperation with hospitals there in clinical applications of their products and services.Hsu stressed that Taiwan healthcare startups must get to know medical services validation processes, medical treatment systems, and medical insurance compensation systems in European countries, so that they can more easily venture into the EU market.Quanta Computer is collaborating with Tiger Accelerator in tapping the market for smart healthcare solutions for the elderly people in Holland, starting with conducting the POC (proof of concept) process with hospitals and nursing homes for senior citizens in addition to collecting relevant data and health indexes before entering substantive cooperation with them, according to Hsu.Hsu indicated that it is hard to change European countries' well-established medical treatment systems, and therefore healthcare startups must focus on developing disruptive medical innovations rather than challenging the systems, if they want to succeed in foraying into Europe.

Server demand was slow in the first half of 2019, but growth has resumed starting in the second half, with Facebook becoming the biggest client for Taiwan-based server ODMs in the third quarter, according to Digitimes Research's latest findings. In the components supply chain, the launch of Apple's new AirPod Pro will boost shipments of SiP substrate suppliers, reportedly including Taiwan-based Kinsus and Nan Ya PCB.Global server shipments to continue growth in 4Q19, says Digitimes Research: Global server shipments picked up 11.2% sequentially in the third quarter of 2019, a growth similar to Digitimes Research's forecast made in the previous quarter, and are expected to see a mild on-quarter increase in the fourth quarter, better than Digitimes Research's original anticipation of a slight drop. The server industry will also see its first quarterly on-year growth in 2019 in the fourth quarter.Kinsus, Nan Ya reportedly among SiP substrate suppliers for new AirPods: Taiwan's Kinsus Interconnect Technology and Nan Ya PCB are both reportedly among SiP (system in package) substrate suppliers for Apple's just-unveiled AirPods Pro series, which adopt SiP design to integrated related chip components to support new functions including noise cancellation and water resistance, according to industry sources.

Global server shipments picked up 11.2% sequentially in the third quarter of 2019, a growth similar to Digitimes Research's forecast made in the previous quarter, and are expected to see a mild on-quarter increase in the fourth quarter, better than Digitimes Research's original anticipation of a slight drop. The server industry will also see its first quarterly on-year growth in 2019 in the fourth quarter.With downstream clients having finished digesting their excess inventory, the worldwide server shipments have resumed growth since the third quarter, but volumes for the entire year of 2019 are still expected to decline, Digitimes Research estimates.Facebook was the largest client of Taiwan makers in terms of shipments in the third quarter of 2019, surpassing the original top-2 Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Dell. Since Facebook's cloud computing platform is mainly composed of multi-node lightweight motherboards, the company's demand for the boards (each counts as one server) has been enormous and is growing rapidly, and should further boost Facebook's shipment share in the fourth quarter.Facebook's increasing orders are primarily benefiting its two major suppliers Quanta Computer and Wiwynn. With a rising share in Facebook's orders plus a dramatic increase in orders from Google, Quanta's server shipments leapfrogged Wistron and Foxconn Technology Group (Hon Hai Precision Industry) to become the second largest server maker worldwide in the third quarter, behind only Inventec.Major server makers are mostly expected to witness sequential shipment growths in the fourth quarter with Quanta to continue obtaining more market share.China-based server brand Inspur activated its in-house production lines to manufacture server motherboards in Suzhou, China in June 2019. So far, the volumes produced at the site per month are still limited, but may challenge Taiwan's dominance in the worldwide server industry in the long run.

China has shown strong ambition to raise its IC self-sufficiency. Although Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have been victorious following a consolidation of the global DRAM industry at the expense of Taiwanese makers, Chinese newcomers seem to be undeterred by the dominance of the top-3. In the flash memory market segment, order visibility has improved, thanks to significant demand for 5G and AIoT applications. And the coming of the 5G era is prompting phone vendors to upgrade their device designs, with Samsung and Huawei likely to adopt VC cooling solutions for the 2020 smartphone lineups. But it remains to be seen whether next year's iPhone will all come with OLED screens, as the LCD iPhone 11 has seen unexpectedly strong sales.China DRAM rise looming, may reshape global market in 5-10 years: The global DRAM market, now over 90% controlled by three major players Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron, is likely to experience a structural shakeup in the next 5-10 years, with a new DRAM business unit set up by China's government-backed Tsinghua Unigroup expected to pose the largest potential threat to the top-3.Flash memory demand for 5G, AIoT picking up: Flash memory chipmakers have seen demand for 5G and AIoT related applications ramp up with order visibility stretched through the first quarter of 2020, according to industry sources.Samsung, Huawei embracing VC cooling solutions for smartphones: Use of vapor chamber cooling modules for smartphones is set to expand significantly in 2020 as Samsung Electronics and Huawei are likely to have all of their 5G phones slated for launch next year equipped with VC-based heat-sink solutions, according to industry sources.Apple reportedly increasing component orders for LCD iPhone: Apple reportedly has ramped up component orders for its LCD-based iPhone 11 that has seen better-than-expected demand but reduced those for iPhone 11 Pro Max that has seen flat sales, accordig to sources from Taiwan's IC supply chain.

The arrival of 5G is ushering in hardware upgrades to support related applications and services. It is expected more 5G smartphones will come with displays offering high refresh rates that can enhance user experience. It remains to be seen whether Apple will launch its first 5G iPhone in 2020, or will adopt displays with 120Hz refresh rate, but the iPhone 11 series reportedly are selling much better than expected, boosting orders for its VCSEL supply chain. Smartphone panels to come with higher refresh rates in 2020: Refresh rates of smartphone panels used in the 5G era are likely to be upgraded to 90Hz or even 120Hz from the current 60 Hz as displays with higher refresh rates will enhance greatly user experience, according to industry observers.VCSEL foundry houses, backend specialists see strong demand: Taiwan's GaAs foundry houses and VCSEL and DOE (diffraction optical element) backend specialists are set to land more follow-up orders from Apple in the fourth quarter of 2019 and beyond, thanks to higher-than-expected sales for the iPhone 11 lineup, according to industry observers.

Taichung Software Park in central Taiwan has set up an accelerator base inviting firms to help speed up applications of innovations developed by startups in the park, according to the park's administration.The park has attracted 11 startups so far to set up operations there, focusing on smart manufacturing, smart healthcare, smart retail and smart living. They will be allowed to access resources of other software industry players in the park, the administration said.At the moment, Data Systems Consulting is one of the major startup application accelerators already operating in the park, dedicated to helping startups with the last-mile processes for commercialization of their innovations.Company chairman FY Ku said Data Systems has positioned itself as a post-incubation service provider dedicated to offering startups POC (proof of concept ) and POB (proof of business) services, which are short of supply for the moment.Ku said it is difficult for startups to find potential clients for testing their innovations, and his company can help them find customers after their innovations pass POC and POB processes at Data Systems.

For IT firms, the PC segment isn't attractive anymore, but servers are a different story. The server market has slowed down in 2019, but growth momentum is expected to resume in 2020. Suppliers of chips for severs are set to enjoy a boom in shipments. But for PC vendors, the weakening demand for gaming devices mean they have to look elsewhere for growth. Asustek is turning to AIoT, ready to spend big on investments in and acquisitions of related businesses, while MSI is eyeing Creator PCs.Peripheral server chips vendors gaining from datacenter demand: As web giants in the US and China have gradually reactivated construction of datacenters since the start of the fourth quarter of 2019, the global server market is on track to renew growth in 2020, providing bright shipment prospect for Taiwan-based vendors of peripheral chip solutions, according to industry sources.Asustek, MSI seeking new growth from AIoT and Creator PCs: With gaming PC demand slowing down, Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International (MSI) are both looking for new sales and profit growths from emerging sectors such as Creator PC and AIoT, to offset their weakening gaming PC businesses, according to industry sources.

Taiwan government-sponsored National Applied Resarch Laboratories (NARLabs) will showcase five smart systems for monitoring natural disasters at SecuTech Thailand 2019 in Bangkok during October 28-31.The systems respectively concern smart city solutions, bridge safety management, earthquake early warning, decision-making assistance, and flooding early warning, NARLabs said.The smart city system is a platform for displaying 3D GIS (geographic information system), modeling of building information, satellite images, drone-scanning data, LiDAR point clouds and their modeling, with this multi-display for use to monitor flooding, bridges, buildings dams, cultural places, traffic conditions and consequence of earthquakes.The bridge safety management system can be used to monitor physical conditions of bridges for predictive and preventive maintenance.The earthquake early warning system can detect primary seismic waves (P-waves) and then predict secondary seismic waves (S-waves) based on AI technology. If S-waves exceed a certain level of intensity, the system will send early warning. The system can be operated without an earthquake observation network and is particularly suitable for factory buildings and cities, NARLabs said.The multi-dimension decision-making assistance system is a platform for fused display of multi-dimension information to allow users to browse 3D spatial images and data on underground features such as pipelines and geological faults.The smart flooding early warning system can predict flooding based on big data analysis of predicted rainfall and tide levels.