MediaTek introduced its super-midrange smartphone market concept in 2017, focusing on competitive midrange pricing for products with high-end specs. It has been adhering to the strategy, and has since improved its profitability. As the 5G era arrives, the Taiwan-based IC designer is still relying on such a strategy, arming its aggressive push into the market in China with 5G chip solutions for the upper midrange smartphone segment. For 5G smartphones, fingerprint sensors are expected to be a mainstream feature. China-based Goodix is making a head start in vloume producing optical in-display fingerprint sensor chips. It is said that Goodix has booked sizeable capacity at TSMC's 8-inch fabs for its sensor chips. Backend service demand for optical in-display fingerprint sensors is also expected to benefit ASE and VisEra.MediaTek to make aggressive 5G push in China: MediaTek is expected to embrace an ambitious strategy to grow its presence in the 5G smartphone SoC sector. It will focus its efforts on 5G chip solutions for the upper midrange smartphone segment, and China will be the chipmaker's major target market.Goodix to be biggest client for TSMC 8-inch fab capacity: China-based fabless chipmaker Goodix has booked considerable 8-inch fab capacity at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for its optical in-display fingerprint sensor chips, according to industry sources.ASE, VisEra to enjoy robust demand for in-display fingerprint sensors: ASE Technology and VisEra Technologies are both being pinpointed as among the backend houses set to enjoy robust demand for optical in-display fingerprint sensors, according to industry sources.

Medical application of voice recognition has large potential but must be integrated into medical practitioners' work flows, according to Eric Chang, senior director of technology strategy at Microsoft Research Asia.Doctors have to record patients' conditions and search for their medical records while doing diagnoses, and dentists have similar situations, Chang said. Besides, radiological and pathologic technologists have to record results of inspecting medical images.Voice recognition can be developed for smart use in keeping records when the medical staff members' hands are occupied and unable to do the recording manually, Chang explained.Medical application of voice recognition, however, varies from scenario to scenario, Chang noted. In operation rooms, for example, voice recognition should be enhanced to separately recognize each of the surgical team members' speeches to accurately record data, Chang indicated.Eric Chang, senior director of technology strategy at Microsoft Research AsiaPhoto: Company

Global server shipments are forecast to increase 5-6% in 2020 after falling slightly in 2019, as brand vendors are expected to renew shipments pull-in momentum having adjusted their inventories to healthy levels, according to Digitimes Research.Taiwan-based suppliers of server-related products, including motherboards, server cabinets, storage devices and network equipment, will see their combined revenues rise 2.3% on year to NT$887 billion (US$29.41 billion), compared to a 2.5% decline in total server unit shipments. This is due partly to increased shipment ratios for storage and networking devices and overall performance upgrades of their products.Digitimes Research expects the combined revenues of Taiwanese suppliers to rise 6-7% on year in 2020, still slightly higher than an estimated on-year expansion of 5-6% for both their and global server unit shipments.In 2019, server shipments to leading US datacenter operators including Facebook and Amazon have shown the most notable growth. Lenovo and Inspur have also registered impressive increases thanks to the US ban on Huawei. In 2020, major shipments pull-in momentum will continue to come from top US datacenter operators.In terms of server shipments in 2019, Inventec and Foxconn remain Taiwan's top-2 suppliers, and Quanta takes the third place, elbowing out Wistron. In 2020, Quanta is expected to advance to second place, Digitimes Research indicates.

Chinese IT firms have been stepping up efforts developing its own CPUs in line with the country's goal of replacing all foreign firms-made computers in use in government and military sectors with locally-made ones. Chinese chipmakers are also developing HPC chips for AI and deep learning applications with the goal of volume producing them in 2021. The development in China is promising big challenges to the US vendors, such as Intel, who have been dominanting forces in the IT hardware market. But one thing seems to remain unchanged: the hardware manufacturing sector in Taiwan is as important as always, with the Chinese ASIC developers already trying to secure capacity from Taiwan's semiconductor backend service providers. Meanwhile, Corning is also seeking inspiration from Taiwan's startups. Corning Taiwan has set up an accelerator helping startup businesses develop innovative applications of its technologies and materials.China keen on developing AI-based ASICs: Chinese chipmakers are revving up development of HPC (high performance computing) chips for AI and deep learning applications, which are expected to become available for volume production in 2021, and they are already asking backend firms from Taiwan for support, according to industry sources.Corning Taiwan partners with university to set up startup accelerator: Corning Display Technologies Taiwan has partnered with Taidah Entrepreneurship Center under National Taiwan University (TEC NTU) to set up an accelerator to help startups develop innovative applications using the company's materials and technologies.

Blockchain-based decentralized finance (DeFi) is gaining significant momentum, promising to be one of the most eye-catching FinTech solutions in 2020, according to Thomas Hu, founder and CEO of Kyber Capital.DeFi can address the deficiencies in conventional financial systems, reduce operating costs, and simplify complicated banking procedures, said Hu, whose company is dedicated to venture investments in companies focusing on blockchain applications and innovative financial technologies and services.He said blockchain is joining forces with Internet technology and open-source social media to create a new financial system.Among major e-commerce operators with big data platforms, Amazon is now the most capable of creating a new financial system on its own, with blockchain mainly serving as a means for the company to achieve the end, according to Hu.He said that DeFi-induced innovations will not only inspire traditional banks to upgrade their operations but also encourage blockchain talent to challenge traditional financial elites.Three pure-play Internet banks have been approved by Taiwan's financial authorities to kick off commercial runs in 2020 - Line Bank, Next Bank and Rakuten Bank. Their business scales and bargaining capabilities will determine their impacts on the existing banking institutions, Hu said, adding that their actual performance will hinge on what services they will provide.Hu said OneConnect Smart Technollogy, a FinTech cloud service platform under China's Ping An Insurance Group, is drawing great attention from the financial industry across the Taiwan Straits. The company has incorporated blockchain, AI, cloud platform and facial identification solutions to provide banks, insurance firms, and financial investment companies with data management, smart operations and cloud services, and now maintains up to 3,700 financial institutions, insurance firms and shopping malls as its clients in China.Kyber Capital founder and CEO Thomas HuPhoto: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, December 2019

Corning Display Technologies Taiwan has partnered with Taidah Entrepreneurship Center under National Taiwan University (TEC NTU) to set up an accelerator to help startups develop innovative applications using the company's materials and technologies.The initial challenges for its startups invovle Corning's Gorilla Glass and its Air Purification System that has won the EU's Horizon 2020 Material for Clean Air Award.Corning Gorilla Glass has been widely used as cover glass of smartphones, but the company hopes startups can develop more innovative applications for the glass, such as those for medical care or automotive displays.Corning also callenges startups to use its Air Purification System, based on Corning's cellular ceramic particulate filters, to develop demonstrative engineering projects specifically for large-scale indoor or outdoor air purification.Daniel Tseng, president for Corning Taiwan, noted that his company is eager to work with startups to jointly create opporunities.Corning Taiwan has hosted the annual "Corning Future Innovators: Innovative Application Competition" for university students to develop innovative application using Corning-developed glass, ceramic and optic fiber since 2015, Tseng said.There were 389 teams from 51 universities or colleges in the 2019 competition, with students developing innovative applications based on 5G, big data, IoT and AI concepts.Corning has two labs in Taiwan, one dedicated to R&D and the other a technology center that helps clients design and test products, Corning Taiwan noted, adding the two labs can help startups test prototype products.

TSMC is clearly the leader in the semiconductor foundry service sector, and Samsung is striving to catch up. The Korean giant reportedly has lowered foundry quotes in order to win clients from the Taiwan-based competitor, who sees tight capacity at its advanced nodes because of strong demand. Meanwhile, the world remains curious about what Apple's 5G iPhone series - expected to debut in the third-quarter of 2020 - will be like. Some obsevers say some of the 5G iPhone models will adopt sensor-shift stabilization technology.Samsung offers discounts to compete against TSMC, sources say: Samsung Electronics has offered discounts fo its foundry services aiming to win customers from TSMC, according to industry sources.5G iPhones reportedly to feature sensor-shift stabilization technology, say sources: Some models of Apple's 5G iPhone lineup to be released in 2020 reportedly will come with sensor-shift stabilization technology, according to industry observers.

Efforts by the blockchain industry will accelerate the development of the existing foundries, according to Thomas Hu, CEO of blockchain technology developer Kyber Capital.Hu pointed out at a conference on December 19 that many cryptocurrency miners are investing heavily to acquire products manufactured using the most advanced process and their demand is also part of the reason for foundries such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics to advance manufacturing process.For 2020, Hu believes the important task for blockchain startups is to accelerate their paces in commercialization instead of seeking higher values or more innovations.At the event, CoolBitX CEO Micheal Ou believes the development of cryptocurrency requires a market to become more open, and government monitoring may not necessarily be negative as it can give investors more confidence and protection.Kyber Capital CEO Thomas HuPhoto: Michael Lee, Digitimes, December 2019

With related 5G and AI technologies promising significant impacts to various industries, telecom operators not only have to enhance their basic infrastructure but also need to positively undergo transformation enabling them to innovate more value-added services, according to James Lee, vice president of carrier business at Far EasTone Telecommunication (FET).Taiwan's government is now in the process of releasing spectrums for 5G services, and competition for bandwidth is bound to be fierce because only with sufficient bandwidth can telecom operators expand their role in the new mobile communication era and stand firm under the impacts of "5GxAI," Lee said at a recent technology forum held in Taipei recently.The competition is be compounded by the fact that the government is releasing only 270MHz in bandwidth in the core 3.5GHz band through open auction by five local telecom operators, and each operator may need at least 80-100MHz in bandwidth to enable the offering of comprehensive value-added services, Lee noted.Even so, Lee said that he remains positive about the commercialization of 5G networks as Taiwan will be able to leverage its well-established IT ecosystem spanning from IC design, foundry, backend packaging, coupled with profound ICT applications and the availability of related supply chains.Judging from the development of related 5G application services in Korea, Lee continued that remote-monitoring on machinery equipment, collaborative efforts with robots, smart factories, medical care and surveillance will be better choices for 5G services in the early stage.FET VP James LeePhoto: Digitimes staff, December 2019

Three major issues need to be taken into account for the assessment of market trends coming along with 5G: the deployment of mmWave 5G networks, the development of differentiated 5G services, and the feasibility of open networks, according to Benson Wu, an analyst at Digitimes Research.Although the enabling of multi-Gagabit transmission bandwidth is one of the highlights of the Release 15 standalone (SA) 5G specifications approved in mid-2018, the challenge is high for the deployment of mmWave networks for practical applications, leaving the US and Italy the only two countries where telecom operators are able to offer limited regional mmWave service currently, Wu said a recent seminar, "5GxAI Trends," held recently in Taipei.However, there are opportunities for the deployments of mmWave 5G networks in large scale in 2020 as many companies have continued to improve and enhanced related technologies and more countries will release spectrums for use by mmWave networks, Wu noted.For example, Qualcomm has been working on optimizing the design of its mmWave antenna modules, aiming at accelerating the commercialization of mmWave networks.The planned release of mmWave 5G frequency bands by a number of nations including Russia, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and others in the EU in 2020 will also help push the deployments of mmWave networks.While eMBB (Enhanced Mobile Broadband), mMTC (massive Machine Type Communications) and URLLC (Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications) are three sets of use cases defined for 5G, commercialization of mMTC and URLLC services will lag behind that of eMBB's, Wu opined.However, judging from the fact that the average revenue per megabyte (revenue per MB) has continued declining in recent years, the development of 5G eMBB applications has to be further differentiated so as to improve the value of data traffic, Wu commented.Based on the standards set for slicing networks, 5G networks will gradually move towards virtualization, and this trend will bring new opportunities for white-box equipment providers to enter the traditional telecommunications equipment market, Wu asserted.Digitimes Research analyst Benson WuPhoto: Digitimes staff, December 2019