PC vendors are bracing for a repeat of Intel's CPU shortages that had plagued the market for several quarters since mid 2018. Supply might have been improving earlier in the third quarter, but the latest news coming from the supply chain is that Intel 14nm CPU manufacturing capacity is falling short of demand again. But PC vendors may have alternative CPU supplies from China. At least one China-based CPU developer is ready to volume-ship its ARM processors for the doemstic desktop market.Intel sees 14nm chip supply fall short of demand again: Intel has seen its 14nm chip manufacturing capacity fall short of demand again recently, which may force many notebook vendors to postpone their new model launches to next year, according to industry sources.China homegrown processors to be ready for mass shipments in 2020: China's homegrown processor makers will be ready for commercial shipments of their newly developed CPUs and GPUs in 2020, according to industry sources.

With the US suspending the tariff on notebook imports from China until December 15, the pressure on notebook brand vendors pre-stocking extra inventory has been significantly eased, according to Digitimes Research.The top-5 notebook brands' combined shipments were lower-than-expected in August, going up only 5% on month and 2% on year, as they slowed down inventory build-ups.Hewlett-Packard's (HP) August shipments picked up 16% on month, a growth only eclipsed by Asustek's 18%, while Lenovo's volumes only rose by 3% on month, Digitimes Research's figures show.Dell saw revenues slip 9% on month in August due mainly to its weak shipments to the consumer sector, while Acer had an on-month shipment growth of 3% during the period, Digitimes Research noted.Of the top-3 ODMs, Quanta Computer and Wistron both recorded over 10% on-month increases in August shipments thanks to rising orders from clients, while Compal saw a 1% decline as a result of Dell cutting orders.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has announced AI Technology R&D Guidelines in a bid to create a reliable environment conforming to international trends of AI R&D and to provide directions for Taiwan AI researchers to follow.Considering AI's disruptive innovations in many areas, such as biomedicine, autonomous vehicles and education, and its potential negative impact on human economic, social and political life, many countries and organizations have established ethics standards for AI R&D, such as the EU's Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, OECD's Principles on Artificial Intelligence and IEEE's Ethically Aligned Design-Version II, MOST noted.MOST said its guidelines are based on three core values: (1) Human-centered, an AI-based society should respect human dignity, rights and freedom and application of AI is to prompt human welfare and hike human living standards; (2) sustainable development, AI R&D should seek balance among economic growth, social progress and environmental protection to reach co-existence and common prosperity among human being, society and environment; (3) diversity and inclusion, AI R&D is to create an AI-based human society of diverse value concepts and backgrounds via interdisciplinary dialog mechanisms, MOST explained.There are eight guidelines derived from the three core values: (1) Common good and well-being among human being, society and environment; (2) Fairness and non-discrimination. R&D of AI hardware, software, algorithms and related decision making should respect human dignity and rights to avoid risks of prejudice and discrimination; (3) Autonomy and control. As AI is applied to helping men's decision making, R&D staff members of AI hardware, software and algorithms should let human being have complete and effective autonomy and control of such technologies; (4) Safety. R&D staff members should secure stable and safe technological operation of AI hardware, software and algorithms, including risk control and monitoring, to build reliable AI environment; (5) Privacy and data governance. Effective data governance is crucial to protection of privacy, therefore, AI R&D staff members should have collection, processing and use of personal data in compliance with regulations concerned; (6) Transparency and traceability. In fairness to interested parties affected by AI decision making, information concerning development and application of AI hardware, software and algorithms, such as modules, mechanisms, parameters and computing, should be provided and disclosed in minimum to enable general understanding of how the AI decision is made. In addition, data, data labeling and algorithms used in the AI decision making have to be appropriately recorded and stored to let them traceable to interested parties affected by AI decision making for relief and clarification; (7) Explainability. AI decision making should be presented to make it explainable to users of AI hardware, software and algorithms as well as interested parties affected by the AI decision making; (8) Accountability and communication. For AI hardware, software and algorithms, mechanisms should be established for explaining AI decision making processes and consequences as well as for accountability, communication and feedback of opinions.

While demand for its 7nm manufacturing node has been strong, TSMC is ready to move its more advanced 5nm process to volume production in first-half 2020 - probably as early as March. The foundry house has been fast developing advanced chipmaking processes. It has also been keen on developing new packaging technology in support of its task to extend the relevance of Moore's Law.TSMC to volume produce 5nm chips as early as March 2020: TSMC is expected to move its more advanced 5nm process technology to volume production as ealy as March, according to industry sources.TSMC may join forces with OSAT firms to build SoIC ecosystem: In the era of heterogeneous chips integration, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is expected be among global top-3 players in the advanced 3D IC packaging field along with Intel and Samsung, but the company is also likely to build an SoIC (system-on-integrated-chips) ecosystem in cooperation with Taiwan-based OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) firms, according to industry sources.

The National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering under government-sponsored the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) has disclosed it is developing a 3D smart city platform for simulating impacts of earthquake disasters on buildings.Using 3D modeling and VR technologies, the platform can simulate impacts of earthquake disasters at varying levels of earthquake intensity on buildings, with such impacts categorized into five levels: No destruction, slight destruction, medium destruction, large destruction and collapse, the center said. The simulation is based on data on buildings including structure, height, age and use, as well as data on seismic wave, sthe center noted. The results can be reference for reinforcing risky buildings and planning for earthquake disaster relief.The center has developed an intelligent safety and disaster prevention management system to monitor structural health of bridges and a system to simulate earthquake impacts on water supply systems.

Intel in May unveiled plans to launch its 7nm products in 2021, and it is now stepping up efforts towards achieving that goal. It has started placing equipment and materials orders for EUV fabrication processes since August. Meanwhile, TSMC expects 7nm and 7nm EUV manufacturing nodes to be a major growth driver this year, thanks to strong demand chiefly coming from the 5G sector. MediaTek, which reportedly is among the clients using TSMC's 7nm manufacturing node, has unveiled what it calls the world's first sub-6GHz 5G SoC, with volume production on track to begin in Janaury 2020. The handset market still has a lot to offer, as far as HannStar Display is concerned. The LCD panel supplier expects further increases in sales from the handset panel market in fourth-quarter 2019, thanks to strong demand from Chinese clients.Intel stepping up EUV equipment, material purchases: Intel has started placing equipment and materials orders for EUV fabrication processes since August, and is stepping up its pace of orders, according to industry sources.MediaTek on track to kick off 5G SoC volume production in 1Q20: MediaTek is on track to enter volume production of its first 5G SoC for sub-6GHz networks in January 2020, having begun sampling the chips in the third quarter of 2019, according to company CFO and spokesman David Ku.Strong handset panel demand to boost HannStar Display sales in 4Q19: HannStar Display expects its sales for the fourth quarter of 2019 to rise sequentially, buoyed by strong demand for handset panels from Chinese vendors, according to company vice president Wu Hsu-ho.

Taiwan-based biotech startup VesCir has released a smart personal skin care system integrating IoT, AI algorithm and biomedical technologies to present customized skincare solutions for consumers, according to TC Chang, the firm's AI algorithm engineer.Chang said that under the system, a smart optical IoT device will be used to check users' skin conditions, and weather conditions, including temperatures and humidity, in their neighborhood, and then the embedded algorithms can analyze the collected data before recommending skincare products for consumers.He continued that the skin data collected by the company can also help skincare retailers and brands improve their product lines.In terms of business model, VesCir now conducts package sales of optical IoT inspection device, related app and skincare oil, Chang said.He revealed that VesCir will first promote sales of its products at duty-free shops at airports in Taiwan and will also start to venture its products into the France market by the end of 2019.

Some may think Moore's Law is reaching its limits, but for TSMC, it is still very much alive. The world's number one pure-play foundry is already conducting 3nm process R&D. TSMC chairman Mark Liu believes Moore's Law will continue to drive semiconductor growth in decades to come, but Taiwan's IC sector must tackle the problem of engineer shortages that could hinder its growth in the future. The shortages will be worsened by aggressive personnel poaching by ambitious Chinese firms looking to cut short their technological development processes.TSMC kicking off 3nm process R&D: TSMC has already kicked off 3nm process R&D, according to Philip Wong, VP of corporate research at the pure-play foundry. And with the evolution of Moore's Law, the company could make 2nm or even 1nm node manufacturing possible, said Wong.Talent shortage facing Taiwan semiconductor industry, says TSMC chairman: Moore's Law will continue to drive semiconductor industry growth in decades to come, but Taiwan's IC sector is in need of sufficient engineers to support its development, according to TSMC chairman Mark Liu.China aggressively poaching talent from Korea, Taiwan chipmakers: China-based semiconductor firms are keenly luring talent away from chipmakers in Taiwan and South Korea by offering much higher pays, seeking to shorten time for technology development and narrow technological gaps with leading players, according to CY Lu, president of Taiwan-based memory chipmaker Macronix International.

Worldwide shipments of smart feature phones running KaiOS are forecast to climb 65% in 2019, with the Africa market being the major growth driver, according to Digitimes Research.KaiOS is the third largest mobile device operating system worldwide. With its successful cooperation with India-based telecom carrier Reliance, the operating system has started expanding into markets outside of India.In 2019, there will be a total of 10 new smart handsets from players in Africa, Indonesia, Brazil and Ukraine that are pre-installed with KaiOS, and the addition of these new phones is expected to dramatically boost KaiOS-based handset shipments in the year, Digitimes Research noted.Smart handsets using KaiOS mostly have similar specifications such as a 2.4-inch display, candybar form factor and 256-512MB of RAM. In 2018, most KaiOS handsets adopted Qualcomm's Snapdragon 205 AP, but in 2019, a majority of new KaiOS devices have turned to solutions from China-based Unisoc.Of the nine KaiOS-based handsets released so far this year, only Energizer Energy 220 series comes with MediaTek's MT6572 processor, while all others are equipped with Unisoc's SC7731 or SC9820E. Sigma Mobile's KaiOS handset will be released later this year.

The global top-5 notebook brands saw their combined shipments rise 5% on month and 2% on year in August, as both Europe and North America entered the peak season, brand vendors started releasing new products and the Intel CPUs shortages were easing, according to Digitimes Research's latest notebook figures.Since the US tariff on notebooks imported from China has been suspended until mid-December, vendors are not in a hurry to advance their orders at the moment, said Digitimes Research.Hewlett-Packard (HP) witnessed an over 10% on-month increase in August shipments thanks to the releases of its new consumer models and strong Chromebook sales. Lenovo also had a slight on-month shipment growth in the month, but its shipments in the next few months are expected to be affected by the deceleration of China's economy.Dell had weaker-than-expected results in the consumer sector, resulting in an on-month drop in the company's overall shipments in August.The top-3 ODMs' combined shipments picked up 6% on month due primarily to Dell and Lenovo ramping up their orders with Wistron, which had the highest on-month shipment growth among the top-3.