Taiwanese passive component suppliers have seen inventory approach healthy levels after two to three quarters of correction. But while their third-quarter shipments are expected to be robust, they remain cautious about the last quarter of the year. In the handset market, Asustek Computer might have been over-cautious about sales of its new gaming smartphone. Asustek reportedly has seen tight supply of its ROG Phone II, as it had failed to place sufficient orders with its handset OEM partner prior to launch.Passive component demand picking up: Demand for MLCCs, chip resistors, as well as other passive components, has started picking up substantially, according to industry sources in Taiwan.Asustek to account for over 50% of global gaming smartphone shipments in 2019: Asustek is expected to ship over 400,000 units of its ROG Phone II in 2019, accounting for over 50% of the global gaming smartphone shipments in the year, according to industry sources.

Taiwan startup Turing Chain is developing a blockchain solution designed to simplify the validation process for certificates and prevent certificates from being faked, according to the firm's chief technology officer TT Lee.Lee said that the Turing Certification solution will take five steps to complete the validation process, starting with link to the blockchain and then getting a credential for the given certificate. The accuracy of the credential holder's data is then verified, followed by certificate validation. The last step is to confirm the authenticity and validity of the certificate from the issuing party.Lee said it will require the support of issuing parties such as colleges and hospitals as well as the validating parties including human resources and headhunting firms to complete the five steps.Lee disclosed that her company's certification solution will be available in the form of an app to be online in October. Users of the app can quickly complete qualification certification and verification process with Turing Chain's cooperative partners.Turing Chain CTO TT LeePhoto: Michael Lee, Digitimes, September 2019

The saturated notebook market has long been in lack of wow factors to stimulate demand. Now Intel and Microsoft are reportedly teaming up again to develop standards for dual-screen notebooks in a bid to rejuvenate the notebook market. But until then, the notebook market will remain sluggish. Worse still, notebooks are among goods imported from China that the US will impose extra tariffs starting December, sending the supply chain worrying.Wintel developing standards for dual-screen notebooks, paving way for foldable-screen models: Intel and Microsoft have recently started establishing standards for dual-screen notebooks and are looking to extend the concept to cover foldable-screen notebooks, according to sources from the notebook upstream supply chain.Apple supply chain makers begin to worry as new products set to launch: While Apple is set to release new iPhones and new Apple Watch on September 10, makers in Apple's supply chains have begun to worry that end-market demand in the holiday shopping season may be weak, affecting their orders in the coming year, according to industry watchers.

Rental electric scooter service operator WeMo has deployed over 3,000 electric scooters in the Taipei metropolitan area, according to company founder Jeffrey Wu.WeMo has registered about 200,000 members since operation began in October 2016, plans to increase the number of scooters for rent to 6,000 by year-end 2019, Wu said, adding currently, its scooters are used over 10,000 trips in total a day and a rental electric scooter records the highest daily turnover rate of 15 times, Wu noted.WeMo has set up energy management centers in areas with concentration of users, with such centers responsible for charging batteries and replacing used batteries with recharged ones, Wu indicated. This exempts users from charging batteries or swapping batteries themselves and, based on WeMo's sample surveys, more than 85% of users are satisfied at such method of battery management, Wu said.In order to avoid use of electric scooters with low levels of stored power, WeMo's operational management system can automatically preclude availability of rental scooters with low battery levels to prevent troubles for users, Wu indicated. WeMo's operational standard is to keep the proportion of all rental electric scooters for those with batteries' stored power higher than 30% of storage capacity at 75-80%, Wu noted.The management system collects operating data on the scooters' operating conditions (locations and time of parking) to analyze hot time intervals and zones of parking, road conditions, and user behavior such as speeding up or slowing down, Wu said.WeMo plans to use such data to combine rental scooter services with other daily life services, Wu indicated.WeMo founder Jeffrey WuPhoto: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, August 2019

Many IT firms from industries including DRAM and NAND flash and optical fingerprint sensor are optimistic about demand in the second half of 2019, but the same may not go for polarizer makers. DRAM and NAND flash players are expected to see demand from servers and datacenters to rise, while optical fingerprint sensor chips suppliers Goodix and Egis are also expected to feel the same way. CMMT and BenQ Materials are expected to see polarizer prices continue to drop as the display industry is in oversupply.Memory demand for datacenters to pick up: DRAM and NAND flash demand for server and datacenter applications is expected to pick up as early as the third or fourth quarter of 2019, and will become robust next year, according to industry sources.Competition to heat up in optical fingerprint sensor market in 2020: Dedicated optical fingerprint sensor chips suppliers Goodix Technology and Egis Technology (EgisTec) may see their monthly and quarterly revenues hit new highs in the second half of 2019 after ending the first half with brilliant performances, but they will be facing keen competition from latecomers including FocalTech Systems, Novatek Microelectronics and Himax Technologies in 2020, according to industry sources.Polarizer makers conservative about 2H19 outlook: Polarizer suppliers Cheng Mei Materials Technology (CMMT) and BenQ Materials are both conservative about their business outlooks for the second half of 2019 as prices of polarizer products are likely to dip down in the face of an industry-wide production cutback due to oversupply in the display industry, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based makers are internationally competitive in the development and manufacturing of camera modules and mmWave (millimeter wave) radars used in ADAS (advanced driver assistance system), according to Digitimes Research.Cars equipped with ADAS are equivalent to SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Level 2 autonomous vehicles, Digitimes Research indicated. While Level 4 autonomous vehicles require installation of expensive LiDARs, AI-based computers and IoV (Internet of vehicles) devices.In addition, Level 4 autonomous vehicles are restricted to run in closed or constrained environment due to safety consideration and traffic regulations, and are mostly used for mobility as a service, that is, carrying passengers or goods among fixed locations.Camera modules with resolution of 1.3-3.0 megapixel have an average unit price of about US$30, while ones equipped with extra image recognition technologies cost about US$150. In terms of autonomous driving, camera modules are mainly used for collision, lane departure and blind spot warning as well as rear parking assistance and monitoring of the driver's conditions. Asia Optical, Calin Technology, Kinko Optical and Ability opto-Electronics Technology are main Taiwan-based makers of camera modules.A 77GHz mmWave radar costs about US$150 and a 79GHz one about US$120. Main functions of mmWave radars for autonomous driving are blind spot detection, ACC (adaptive cruise control), around-view monitoring and rear parking assistance. Cub Elecparts is currently the main Taiwan-based maker of mmWave radars, while a few other makers have begun small-volume shipments for trial use or are poised to start production.

Development of 5G technologies and products has become a key direction for Huawei's operation with its orders for 5G-related chips to upstream suppliers expected to rise dramatically over the next two years, while Huawei's chipmaking subsidiary Hisilicon may even become the largest clients of TSMC in 2020 due partly to 5G demand. On the other hand, GIS is planning to boost the monthly capacity of in-display fingerprint sensors to five million units by November.Huawei ramping up chip demand for 5G base stations: Huawei has been ramping up orders for chips used in its 5G base station equipment, according to sources at backend houses, which expect the China-based player's chip demand to remain robust over the next two years.Hisilicon likely to be biggest client of TSMC: Huawei's chipmaking arm Hisilicon is expected to become not only the largest Asia-based fabless chipmaker but also TSMC's biggest client in 2020, according to industry sources.GIS ramping up in-display fingerprint sensor production: General Interface Solution (GIS) is expanding its production capacity for in-display fingerprint sensors at its plant in Chengdu, China, with plans to ramp up its monthly output to five million units in November from 2-3 million currently, according to company chairman Hsien-ying Chou.

Following the trial production of 1znm DRAM chips at the fab in Japan, Micron is expected to begin mass production of the chips at plants in Taiwan in the first half of 2020, while MediaTek's first single-chip 5G solution for sub-6GHz networks is also scheduled to enter volume production in the first quarter of 2020. Globalfoundries have filed patent lawsuits against TSMC and sources from the Taiwan semiconductor industry believe there are more to GF's actions.Micron on track to kick off 1znm DRAM production in Taiwan: Micron Technology is already engaged in risk production of DRAM chips built using 1z-nanometer process technology at its Hiroshima fab in Japan, according to the US memory chip vendor. The more advanced manufacturing node will be ready for mass production at Micron's Taiwan-based plant in the first half of 2020.MediaTek gearing up for volume production of single-chip 5G chips: MediaTek has started delivering samples of its first single-chip 5G solution designed for sub-6GHz networks, and expects volume production of the chip to kick off in the first quarter of 2020, according to company president Joe Chen.What drives GF to file patent infringement lawsuits against TSMC?: The unexpected patent infringement lawsuits recently filed by Globalfoundries (GF) with courts in the US and Germany against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is most likely aimed at raising the tech profile of the US foundry, caught in operating losses, to facilitate sales of its remaining assets, according to industry sources.

Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) will select 80 local startup teams for them to present their innovations at Eureka Park, a global stage for innovation, CES 2020 to take place in Las Vegas, the US, during January 7-10, according to industry sources.The selected startup teams will showcase their innovations at Taiwan's national pavilion at Eureka Park, the sources said.MOST picked 32 and 44 Taiwan-based startup teams to participate in Eureka Park CES 2018 and 2019 respectively and eight of the 44 teams in 2019 won Innovation Awards, with the number of teams ranking second among all participating countries next only to France, the sources noted.Viewing that participation in Eureka Park has substantially help Taiwan-based startup teams attract international venture capital investment, access international market and create international visibility, MOST has decided to enlarge the participation in 2020, the sources indicated.MOST will select startup teams developing innovative solutions in 10 areas including IoT, AI, blockchain, smart medical care, robotics, smart manufacturing and automotive application, the sources said. MOST will commission government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute to offer short-term training courses to prepare selected startup teams for making presentations and attending one-to-one business interviews at Eureka Park CES 2020, the sources noted.

Taiwan-based ODMs and OBMs (own-brand manufacturers) together shipped 21.984 million PC-use LCD monitors in the second quarter of 2019, increasing 7.6% on quarter and 4.5% on year, while the corresponding production value of US$2.435 billion grew 7.3% sequentially and 4.9% on year, according to Digitimes Research.17-inch and below models accounted for 2.0% of the shipments, 18- to below 20-inch ones for 10.6%, 20- to below 22-inch ones for 22.4%, 22- to 26-inch ones for 48.1%, 27-inch and above ones for 16.9%, Digitimes Research indicated.With Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer and Asustek Computer being the major vendors (clients), TPV Technology recorded the largest shipments of 11.92 million LCD monitors, followed by Qisda with 5.50 million units, Foxconn Electronics with 2.68 million units and Wistron with 1.85 million units.Shipments in the third quarter are forecast to reach above 22 million units, according to Digitimes Research's latest monitor shipment tracker.