Global tablet shipments are expected to slip dramatically on year in 2019 amid weakening demand for brand and education tablets. Sales of white-box models have been significantly undermined by brand-name devices, while demand for small-size white-box tablets will continue to slip in the next five years, according to Digitimes Research's 5-year forecast report on tablets.Apple's iPad series, which accounts for the largest portion of the brand-name tablet shipments, may not receive upgrades as keenly as before in the next few years, while iPads' price cuts are only having limited effect on stimulating demand, Digitimes Research noted.Global tablet shipments will see difficulties remaining at above 130 million units in 2020. After 2020, the global tablet market will become a sector of rigid demand with shipments to shrink 2-3% every year, and by 2024, it will be difficult to keep volumes above 120 million units.White-box tablet shipments will remain weak in 2020 as most makers' key products are small-size tablets that have been cannibalized by large-screen smartphones and Amazon's inexpensive tablets. Since many white-box tablet makers have started turning to manufacture non-tablet products and customized tablets, more makers are expected to quit the regular tablet business in the next few years.Shipments of tablets with above 10-inch display or using an in-cell touch solution will rise dramatically in 2020 as Apple has replaced its inexpensive 9.7-inch iPad with a new 10.2-inch one, while panels makers have been keenly promoting their in-cell touch solution with advantages in production and pricing to replace GFF one.Microsoft's Windows-based tablet shipments are expected to grow exponentially in 2019 and will see its shipment share rise to 5.2% by 2020, trailing closely behind Lenovo.

Global shipments of small- to medium-size TFT LCD panels are expected to total 1.8 billion units in 2024, representing a CAGR of minus 4.4% from the levels seen in 2019, Digitimes Research estimates.Shipments of handset panels (including LCD and OLED) - the largest segment for small- to medium-sized applications - will grow at CAGR of 0.07% during a 5-year forecast period from 2019-2014, according to Digitimes Research.But LCD handset panel shipments alone during the forecast period will show a CAGR of minus 7.2%, as shipments of AMOLED applications will continue to grow and account for 50% of global handset panel shipments in 2024.More AMOLED panel production lines at major display makers, particularly those in China, will gradually come online during 2021-2022, which in turn will result in a 10% on-year reduction in output of LCD handset panels during these two years.Digitimes Research believes that the rise of industrial control, automotive and other IoT applications in the fields including smart speakers and white household appliances will become the growth driver for small- to medium-size panel shipments at a time when the markets of a number of portable consumer electronics such as handsets, tablets, digital cameras, handheld games and portable navigation devices (PNDs) have become mature or even begun declining.

Preparations for the year-end shopping season and extra inventory build-ups at clients to avoid extra US tariffs are heaping strong pressure on notebook ODMs who are not receiving sufficient support from Intel. They thought the Intel processor shortfall had eased, only to find out that 14nm Intel CPUs are again falling short of demand. The PC CPU maket has been dominated by US suppliers, but in the mobile processor market, Taiwan-based MediaTek has a strong presence. Now China's move to reduce reliance on US supplies is giving MediaTek an even stronger role in the 5G market.Notebook ODMs scrambling to secure Intel 14nm CPUs: Notebook ODMs are scrambling to secure supply from Intel for its 14nm CPUs that have again been hit by shortages ahead of the year-end holiday season, according to industry sources.Chinese drive to de-Americanize supply chain seen as black swan for 5G chips market: China's de-Americanization campaign, a move aimed at cutting reliance on the US suppliers of crucial semiconductor components and technologies, has emerged as the largest black swan affecting the development of the 5G chips market in 2020, according to industry observers.

Global smartphone shipments are expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.8% during a 5-year forecast period from 2019~2024, driven by replacement demand for entry-level smartphones in emerging markets and commercialization of 5G networks, according to Digitimes Research.Smartphone shipments will start recovering in 2020 and forward after two consecutive years of declines in 2018-2019, with prospects to reach over 1.5 billion units in 2022 and 1.6 billion units in 2024, Digitimes Research estimates.Samsung Electronics, Apple and Huawei are poised to serve as the top-3 smartphone vendors in 2020, while Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo will rank fourth, fifth and sixth in consequent order with each posting a growth ranging from 5-9% in the year.Accumulated shipments by the top-6 vendors will grow 5.1% on year to over one billion in 2020 with their combined marker share edging up 0.6pp as compared to a year earlier.Shipments of 5G-enabled smartphones will be less than 10 million units in 2019 and will expand nearly 20-fold to 175 million units in 2020, Digitimes Research estimates.Along with the increasing penetration of 5G networks and popularity of related 5G services, prices of 5G phones will continue to decline over the forecast period and will eventually ramp up the ratio of 5G models to nearly 50% of global smartphone shipments in 2024.

The server industry is having a weak 2019 due to high inventory levels at clients, but global server shipments are expected to grow around 5% on year in 2020 as clients' inventory disgestion has almost reached an end. There are three major factors driving the server market from 2019 to 2024: more enterprises have begun pushing for digital transformation, AI applications are growingly popular and cloud datacenter firms are eagerly promoting hybrid cloud systems, according to Digitimes Research's latest 5-year server forecast report.Surging 5G data transmission volumes are also expected to boost server demand starting 2023.Global server shipments are expected to see a CAGR of 6.5% from 2019-2024 with Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google and Facebook all planning to establish new datacenters worldwide, eyeing the potential demand, Digitimes Research's data shows.As cloud computing services have become common, multiple cloud management and hybrid cloud platforms have become a new battlefield among server players. The players have also been unveiling their hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) products that highly integrate servers' hardware architecture with virtualization technologies to cut down costs and time for clients learning heterogeneous resource integration.HCI has already become a technological development trend of the server industry, while many have started connecting their software defined datacenter (SDDC) with HCI as a way to assist enterprise to conduct digital transformation.To achieve a higher AI computing efficiency, chipmakers are looking to divide related chips into two different categories: training and inference, and the move is expected to separate AI-specific servers into two different specification settings.More enterprises are expected to choose to use AI-specific servers to develop their AI models due to concerns over costs and security and with 5G to come online in the near future, demand for AI-specific servers is expected to surpass that for AI model training servers between 2020-2022.In terms of network data processing capability, the server market currently has two different markets: large-size datacenter and standard enterprise with both having 25GE as the basic network speed. As AI applications and multimedia and game streaming are becoming popular, large-size cloud computing datacenters are mainly seeking stability and high expansibility, making SerDes (serializer/deserializer) interface a new spec standard.The network speed of 400GE has already been applied in large datacenters at the moment and 800GE is expected to become available by 2021. For regular enterprises, demand for 100GE is currently rising stably.

It is not just application processors vendors that have been scrambling to secure production capacity for making their 5G offerings at TSMC's 7nm node, which is also catering to AI processors developers, such as Nvidia, Xilinx and Bitmain. Earlier this year, a cloud was hanging over the world's top foundry house amid global economic uncertainty that dampened demand, but strong demand emerging later for its advanced manufacturing processes has now promised a fruitful year for TSMC in 2019. A major driving force for TSMC's strong growth momentum is 5G applications. And within the 5G chip segment, the sub-6 GHz standards are expected to gain much traction in China. TSMC 7nm process attracts multiple orders for AI processors: TSMC with its competitive 7nm process technology has obtained orders for made-for-AI chip processors from Nvidia, Xilinx and Qualcomm, and a number of China-based vendors such as Huawei, Bitmain and Alibaba, according to industry sources.TSMC to post record 2019 revenues: TSMC is expected to see its third-quarter revenues rise and post another sequential revenue increase in the fourth quarter. The anticipated rebound in revenues during the second half of 2019 will likely allow the pure-play foundry to enjoy another year of record-high sales, according to market sources.Demand for sub-6 GHz 5G chips to gain momentum: Global demand for 5G chips supporting the sub-6 GHz standards is likely to gain momentum as telecom operators in China, which has the potential to become the world's largest market for 5G phones, have given the priority to the development of related sub-6 GHz technology instead of mmWave one, according to industry observers.

The Industrial Development Bureau has started operation of AI Hub, a web-based one-stop AI application platform that is part of the 4-year (2018-2021) Taiwan AI Action Plan, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).There are 16 industry associations and organizations, 72 AI startup businesses and nearly 600 enterprise users of AI solutions participating in the hub, MOEA said.The hub provides three core services: Needs assessment (web-based questionnaires are used to understand enterprise users' AI application and thereby assess their AI capability, diagnose their problems and make recommendations.); solution marketplace (AI solutions available in Taiwan are are collected to let enterprise users search for needed AI solutions and try online AI algorithms to help them apply AI to business decision making.); and service on demand (AI start-up businesses and experts provide consulting services to meet enterprise users' demand, including proved cases of AI application.).The hub is an innovative AI ecosystem to boost industries' smart operation and development of AI application in Taiwan, MOEA indicated. Small- to medium-size enterprises and companies in traditional manufacturing are target users of AI Hub at present.AI Hub inaugural ceremonyPhoto: Michael Lee, Digitimes, October 2019

Device pricing is expected to be a major factor determining the pace of growth in China's 5G smartphone market next year, and Chinese vendors are keen to make sure that their phones are affordable. Naturally they are demanding their componets suppliers lower their quotes. And application processor vendors are also gearing up for the 5G smatphone market. MediaTek, which expects explosive growth in the 5G smartphone shipments globally in 2020, is set to roll out more 5G SoCs next year. Meanwhile, Taiwan's IT supply chain is seeing more server clients come knocking on their door. Dell reportedly is set to purchase more from Taiwanese server components suppliers to avoid the US tariffs on Chinese products.Quotes for 5G smartphone components face downward pressure: Handset component suppliers, particularly those for camera modules, displays and acoustic devices, are facing increasing pressure from China's handset vendors to lower their quotes for components for 5G-enabled phones as Chinese vendors are aiming at reducing 5G phone prices significantly in 2020, according to sources from Taiwan's handset supply chain.MediaTek to roll out 2 SoC chips for sub-6GHz in 1H20: MediaTek is scheduled to roll out the company's first 5G SoC for sub-6GHz networks in early 2020, with plans to launch its second 5G mobile chip that will also support sub-6GHz in the first half of next year, according to industry sources.Dell reportedly to increase server purchases from Taiwan: Dell reportedly plans to increase its server purchases from Taiwan, and has also scaled up its workforce locally, according to industry sources.

Global production capacity for large-size LCD panels (9-inch and above sizes) will undergo a major shift in 2019-2024, during which the ratio of China's capacity to global total large-size panel capacity will increase to over 50-60% due to continued capacity ramps by its major players including BOE Technology, China Star Optoelectronic Technology, HKC and China Electronics Corporation (CEC), according to Digitimes Research.The relentless capacity expansions by China's panel makers will not only result in massive losses at most other panel players in the region, but also prompt particularly Korea's makers to realign their production lines, with plans to halt the operations of a number of their 7.5G/8.5G LCD lines during the period beginning the second half of 2019 to 2021, Digitimes Research notes.While reducing their LCD panel production, Korea's makers are committing more investments to building up their capacity for OLED and QD-OLED panels. As a result, the proportion of Korea's capacity for large-size LCD panels to global production capacity will drop to about 10% by 2024, while Taiwan's makers will hold a slightly over 20%, Digitimes Research estimates.During the 5-year forecast period, shipments of large-size LCD panels to the four major application segments - TVs, monitors and AIO PCs, notebooks and large-size tablets - will all decline, albeit slightly, year-on-year.Shipments of large-size LCD TV panels will see its CAGR lag behind those for other applications as Korean makers are accelerating the buildups of their OLED production lines in Korea and China. However, shipments of large-size LCD panels for "other" applications such as automotive panels and digital signage boards are expected to enjoy a CAGR of nearly 10% during the forecast period.

Differentiation and customization are two major concerns for biomedical startups when they foray into the market for smart healthcare solutions, as many hospitals and care centers hope to have their own distinct medical services and technologies, according to Ken Yu, CEO of iMedtac, a Taiwan-based provider of AIoT healthcare solutions.Yu said Taiwan's ICT and medical resources can be integrated to enhance cross-department management, medical treatment flow improvement and medical intelligence system operations. At the moment, China outperforms Taiwan in some medical departments and technologies, but Taiwan still has its own advantages in the smart healthcare sector, including solid inter-department integration, sound hospital management and strong data accuracy, Yu commented, adding that Taiwan has to accelerate incorporation of new technologies and applications to build its leadership in the sector.In Taiwan and Japan, construction of long-term care centers has been unable to catch up with the aging of the population, and therefore the medical sector agrees that homecare services will see increasingly important development. Yu said call centers and cloud systems can be integrated to have nurses and care staffers render services to the needy within one square kilometer. Bolstered by the ICT technology, any given care center can build a community medical and care ecosystem while also addressing part of the shortages of homecare forces.Long-term care institutions differ from general businesses in profit-gaining models and smart healthcare devices will entail higher prices during the R&D stage and initial market penetration. Accordingly, to secure smooth development of the smart long-term care industry, sales of services and renting of the devices will become a more feasible practice. In addition, based on the top-down model, superintendents and board of directors at hospitals will determine what smart software and hardware solutions to incorporate so as to boost the performance and efficiency of doctors, examiners, nurses, and treatments for patients, according to Yu.