Clientron, a world-leading provider of thin clients and embedded systems, established its industrial PC (IPC) team in 2017, demonstrating its determination to penetrate deep into the IPC market. Clientron has always been able to provide product designs that precisely match customer needs and now riding on burgeoning IoT and Industry 4.0 trends, Clientron is ramping up efforts toward IPC product development and market expansion.Kelly Wu, president & CEO, Clientron, states, "Taiwan-based manufacturers have been active in the IPC market for many years. IPC firms are characterized by being small but exquisite. Clientron, with years of product R&D experiences, is capable of providing high-end industrial-grade products with wide temperature and voltage ranges, waterproof and dustproof as well as ability to maintain long-term operation under extreme circumstances." Clientron has introduced embedded single board computers (SBC), embedded systems and industrial panel PC to accommodate different customer needs.Expanding vertical industrial applicationsIPC has always targeted niche market segments. Clientron's endeavors in this field began with the food processing industry and smart transportation applications. Clientron's Pike-AL-1500SP, crafted specifically for the food processing industry, is an industrial panel PC that can withstand special cleaning or a steaming environment. It offers IP69K protection against high temperature, dust and water and long-term submersion under water. The Pike-AL-1500SP has passed spray test with steam pressure of 100bar (1450 psi) at a temperature of 80°C. It is built with grade 304 stainless steel casing to enable protection against heat and corrosion and prevent hazardous substances from leaching due to heat or acid, thereby guaranteeing safe and sanitary operation in a food processing plant.For smart transportation, Clientron custom-built its IT900 embedded system for intelligent traffic decision making. It co-worked with customers to design applications such as smart intersection and smart parking solutions. With aluminum alloy casing, fanless & ventless design and IP40 dust-proof protection, the IT900 is suitable for murky outdoor environments with a reduced probability of failure or repair. It supports dual display ports and dual LAN ports and is powered by an Intel high-performance energy-efficient quad-core or dual-core platform. Its modular I/O box can quickly and flexibly accommodate customer's I/O design based on actual needs. The innovative drawer-type casing also allows easier hardware installation and expansion by its user friendly designClientron drew naming inspiration from cold weapons for its industrial-use products to represent symbolic meaning of simplicity, user friendly and combat strength. For example, its industrial panel PC is named as "Pike," innovative box type embedded systems as "Mace" and SBC as "Saber." Its Mace-AL-200 embedded system provides "Tsuba Kits" with a flexible modular design for customers to easily add I/O modules and build systems tailored to their specific needs. On top of that, the removable back cover makes maintenance work a breeze.Clientron keeps turning innovative designs into realityFor point-of-sale (POS) terminals, Clientron presents PST650 all-in-one POS suited for the food service industry. PST650 features streamline, compact and lightweight design and built-in integration with a thermal printer supporting multiple well-known brands, so customers do not need to install an additional printer, thereby saving counter footprint and cost.Among Clientron's most renowned thin client product line, the R800 was recently recognized with the 26th Taiwan Excellence Award. It comes with an innovative rotatable port-on-foot design with I/O expansion ports, enabling both space saving and I/O expandability advantages. Its high-durability capacitive-touch power button provides convenient on/off switch and reduces mechanical failure. Featuring support for triple 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) displays, energy-efficiency design translating to savings on electricity bills and a three-year standard warranty, the R800 is especially suitable for virtual desktop solutions in banking, healthcare, government and education sectors.Clientron is making leaping advances in automotive electronicsLooking forward, Wu speaks about Clientron's achievements in the automotive electronics market: "Clientron has been dedicating its time and efforts in this segment for many years and actually obtained ISO/ TS16949 certification as early as 2004. With a focus on Car Informatic Device (CID), we leveraged nearly 20 years of design and manufacturing experiences in automotive video and audio systems and worked with customers to jointly craft ' Interactive in three displays, one instrument with ADAS' software and hardware integrated solutions. This is a big step forward for us in the factory-installed equipment market." Three displays here refer to the CID system, driver instrument cluster and digital insole cluster. One instrument refers to the car recorder. They work in conjunction with the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) in the vehicle.Furthermore, it should be noted that a major customer of Clientron has engaged in large-scale expansion in the American market, which is expected to fuel Clientron's revenue growth in the region this year. With the inauguration of a new factory in Nangang, Clientron will be able to fully meet growing market demand.Clientron plans to showcase its latest thin client series, POS systems and embedded IPC solutions at Computex 2018. Visitors to Clientron's booth K0427a in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center will be able to see Clientron products being put to use in different scenarios, including an embedded IPC in food processing industry, thin clients in banking scenario and a POS system in a restaurant setting.Kelly Wu, president & CEO, Clientron, states that the company will keep ramping up efforts toward IPC products in 2018.

The output value of China's IC design industry sector is expected to exceed US$35 billion in 2018, driven by a combination of positive factors including continued growth in shipments of China-based smartphone vendors, rising demand for consumer electronics devices amid rampant IoT applications, and the appreciation of the Chinese currency, according to Digitimes Research.HiSilicon Technologies, Unigroup Spreadtrum RDA and Sanechips Technology (formerly ZTE Microelectronics Technology), which specialize in the design and development of smartphone SoCs and other communications chips, were China's top-3 fabless IC firms in 2015-2017 when OmniVision was excluded, said Digitimes Research. OmniVision Technologies became a China company in 2017 after being acquired by a group of China-based investors led by Hua Capital Investment.With demand for fingerprint sensors and IoT-related chips rising, Huada Semiconductor, which was ranked fifth in 2017, is expected to narrow its gap with its nearest competitor among China's top-5 IC design houses, Digitimes Research indicated.In 2017, revenues generated from the communications chip sector came to nearly CNY90 billion (US$13.3 billion), becoming the largest market for China's IC design industry. Nevertheless, consumer electronics ICs will be another major driver of China's IC design industry output value growth in 2018, Digitimes Research said.In addition, the output value of China's IC design industry surpassed that of Taiwan's IC design sector by over US$10 billion in 2017, Digitimes Research said. China's IC design industry output value already surpassed Taiwan's in 2015.

Worldwide top-5 notebook brands saw their combined shipments drop around 30% sequentially in April primarily due to seasonal factors, but compared to the same month in 2017, the volumes went up 3%. Digitimes Research believes that the on-year increase was not a result of market recovery, but market uncertainties that had sent vendors' shipments fluctuating much more strongly than usual.Hewlett-Packard's (HP) April shipments slipped dramatically from a month ago, but the US-based vendor still achieved a double-digit percentage growth on year. Dell surpassed Lenovo to second position for the second time in 2018 in April. Lenovo was undermined by the US-China trade tensions and its business re-organization, slipping to third place in April, said Jim Hsiao, senior analyst at Digitimes ResearchThe top-3 ODMs' combined shipments decreased 27% on month in April. Compal Electronics leapfrogged last month's top maker Quanta Computer to become the largest ODM in April, as its orders from US-based clients had a smaller drop than Quanta's.

Display products highlighted by China-based flat panel makers at the recently concluded China Information Technology Expo (CITE) show that most of China's panel suppliers are actively developing 18:9 all-screen and profile-cut panels in response to demand from the handset sector, the largest application market for small- to medium-size panels, Digitimes Research has found.In terms of technology, China's flat panel makers are currently still focusing on the development of flexible AMOLED panels, Digitimes Research says.The rapid shift of specifications from 16:9 to 18:9 aspect ratio and the adoption of profile-cut panels for high-end smartphones have actually extended to WVGA panels for entry-level models. Additionally, LTPS and IGZO TFT LCD panel makers have also begun to utilize their respective technologies to produce HD panels in addition to the previous focus of higher-end Full HD or above panels.While eagerly developing AMOLED panels for handset applications, China's panel makers are also seeking to expand the applications of such panels to other segments such as under-display fingerprint and facial recognition applications.Although AMOLED panels are currently being used for the production of smartwatches and other wearable devices, China's panel suppliers are also keen on the development of TFT LCD panels for wearable applications, with efforts including the roll-out of semi-reflective semi-transparent panels with improved color contrast for smartwatches, as well as other fast response panels for VR glasses.

The global LiDAR systems' market for automotive applications is showing an impressive growth between 2017 and 2023: from US$726 million to US$5 billion, it should reach a 43% CAGR during this period, according to Yole Developpement.The growth should continue until 2032 with a US$28 billion market value, for the automotive market segment alone, said Yole.Today, LiDARs and new applications are developing simultaneously. Thus the LiDAR market is directly linked to the development of ADAS solutions and robotic vehicles. Both domains show high growth rates and tremendous enthusiasm.Yole said diverse industries such as aerospace, archaeology, construction, and wind farms and more will be also part of the LiDAR market landscape."In the past two years, more than US$800 million has been invested in LiDAR companies," said Alexis Debray, a technology and market analyst at Yole, as cited by a company press release. "Therefore, there is clearly a strong excitement around these technologies."Some companies, despite being created only a few years ago, have received millions in investments, according to Yole. For example, Blackmore, founded in 2016, recently received US$18 million from BMW and Toyota. And Quanergy, launched in 2012, received US$180 million in 2017.Such investments testify to LiDAR technologies' immaturity. Startups, industrial players, top-tier firms, and automotive OEMs are all investing in different approaches with no guarantee of success, but this is the price they must pay for a chance to be part of the automotive grade market for LiDAR technologies, seen by many as the "Holy Grail," said Yole.

Global server shipments (based on motherboards shipped) amounted to 3.4 million units in the first quarter of 2018, slightly down on quarter, but the shipments are expected to rise 9% sequentially in the second quarter, Digitimes Research estimates.Taiwan's server makers continued to maintain stable shares of global shipments in the first quarter of the year, but their shipments to leading datacenter operators including Amazon and Microsoft declined slightly from a quarter earlier. Second-quarter shipments to these major clients are expected to pick up on quarter, Digitimes Research indicates in its latest quarterly server report.Among them, Inventec still led in shipment volume. The company and Quanta Computer both received more orders from Amazon and Facebook in the first-quarter 2018 than a quarter earlier.Meanwhile, Wiwynn is expected to post the highest quarterly shipment growth in the second quarter of the year, as it has added Amazon as a new major customer, in addition to existing ones such as Microsoft and Facebook. The continuous tight supply of capacitors will be a major variable that could affect the shipment performance of Taiwan server makers, Digitimes Research indicates.

Shipments of smartphone-use application processors in China are expected to increase 17% sequentially to 173.8 million units in the second quarter of 2018, Digitimes Research estimates.Smartphone vendors began to step up their pace of orders in March. Disappointing smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2017 led to inventory adjustments at vendors, which dragged down AP shipments in China in the first quarter of 2018, Digitimes Research figures show. Smartphone AP shipments in China came to 148.5 million units in the first quarter, down 29% sequentially but up 17% from the same period in 2017. Shipments for the second quarter are forecast to represent a 2.2% decrease compared to the same period in 2017.MediaTek's smartphone AP shipments in China are expected to surge 33.7% sequentially in the second quarter, as sales of its Helio P series have begun to gain momentum. MediaTek's new 12nm Helio P series utilizing an AI processing unit (APU) has attracted orders from Oppo and Xiaomi.Qualcomm has seen its smartphone AP sales growth in China due to maturity of the market. Besides, Qualcomm intends to maintain its gross margin which will put it in an unfavorable position amid fierce competition from its Taiwan- and China-based rivals due to less flexibility in its pricing strategy, Digitimes Research believes.

Taiwan's shipments of small- to medium-size LCD panels are expected to grow 8.6% sequentially in the second quarter of 2018, driven by increased panel demand from China-based smartphone vendors for production of entry-level and mid-tier smartphones, as well as orders from India for high-end feature phones, according to Digitimes Research.Shipments of small- to medium-size panels by Taiwan suppliers totaled 297 million units in the first quarter of 2018, down 5% sequentially. The first-quarter performance was better than expected due mainly to increased shipments of 18:9 all screen smartphone panels by Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), Digitimes Research figures show.During the first quarter, panel shipments for industrial-control and commercial applications were less affected by seasonal factors; shipments of mainstream sizes, and those for tablet and digital camera applications suffered serious setbacks. On a yearly basis, only shipments for handset applications posted growth in the first quarter. Additionally, shipments of automotive-use panels outpaced those for digital cameras to become the second largest application segment for panel makers.In the second quarter, shipments of small- to medium-size panel shipments for portable navigation device (PND) and automotive applications are expected to enjoy the highest growth in unit shipments, while those shipped to the tablet and digital camera segments will continue to decline.For individual suppliers, HannStar Display suffered the highest decline in shipments in the first quarter as the entry-level market was affected most by seasonal factors. But CPT managed to buck the seasonal trend to post sequential growth and outperformed Innolux to become the second largest supplier of small- to medium-size panels in the quarter.

In the 5G era, choosing the communication standards is not a core issue, but players need to decide which application market segments should be given priority. None of the 5G technology deployments will come cheap, and competition in commercial 5G operations will be capital-intensive under the "X as a Service" business model.A number of benchmark telecom operators have expressed eagerness to enter the 5G commercial market as early as possible, as the growing homogeneity on the improvement of network coverage, transmission bandwidth and mobile service experience in the prevailing 4G networks has driven the 4G service market into a phase with fierce competition.It will cost China-based telecom operators a combined capital expenditure of CNY300-500 billion (US$47.18-78.63 billion) for network coverage of 5G base stations in metropolitan areas operating under 4.5GHz/4.9GHz/26GHz/28GHz 5G networks, excluding other costs for peripheral transmission, 5G core and wireless access networks, Digitimes Research estimates. China's actual capital spending for 5G networks will be much higher as the aforementioned estimate is just coverage in the metropolitan areas.Digitimes Research also believes that with the exception of large-scale telecom operators in a number of countries/areas, most operators will be conservative about investing in 5G networks because of a number of reasons: the existing 4G networks have yet to be fully depreciated; the cost of 5G networks is too high; and they have yet to identify feasible business models for 5G emerging applications.

Pure Storage has worked with Nvidia and Arista Networks to jointly create AI Ready Infrastructure (AIRI) that is able to assist its clients with demand for AI applications.The company's FlashBlade series servers will be the initial product line to feature the infrastructure.Digitimes recently talked to Robert Lee, Pure Storage's VP and chief architect, about the new product line and the AI business opportunity.Q: Why has the FlashBlade series been chosen for AIRI?A: When the company began preparing and designing the FlashBlade series in 2013, the plan was to create a high performance server product line, targeting HPC clients with data processing demand. After its release, we have discovered that many of our clients have used the products for processing AI applications.Since AI requires good algorithm and a large amount of analyzable data in order to create values, storing, categorizing and computing the enormous data collected are some of the major challenges of the servers and the FlashBlade series' high-end specifications are able to satisfy demand for all different types of data storage, computing need and simplified categorization processes.For example, we previously worked with an autonomous driving vehicle developerusing our FlashBlade server to collect video data from the vehicles' camcorders. For each test, the camcorders could produce up to 5TB of data, which would usually take a long time to conduct back-end processes. But with our system, the developer was able to save a lot of time over video conversion, image capturing and image categorization.When the system captures images from videos, it still requires a person to manually tell it what the images are and the process usually takes a very long time. But with a suitable storage system, the process can be shortened dramatically.Q: Why has the FlashBlade series adopted a blade server form factor instead of the traditional rack server one?A: From the users' perspective, the rack server form factor design usually creates many limitations and the blade server design is able to provide better and simpler usages. The blade server design also has many advantages including better expandability and plug-and-play.The system also has well-designed software, allowing the system to directly communicate with the flash drives in order to conduct more parallel computing at once.When we began designing the FlashBlade series servers 4-5 years ago, we already started trying out NVMe-based SSDs as part of the hardware configurations. By then, NVMe was not yet a mature technology and though our competitors were able to adopt NVMe SSDs into their products, their servers were still incapable of achieving results similar to those of the FlashBlade series due to the limitations in software.Our software is able to resolve the bottleneck of NVMe's data transmission, allowing a smooth flow of data passage.Q: What functions can the FlashBlade series provide over the data categorization?A: We are currently working with our partners to help our clients concerning functionality. With the large amounts of raw data collected, our clients are not able to begin conducting analysis until after it has been labeled, indexed and classified.We have seen enormous amounts of data from clients and are working with our partners to develop technologies to categorize them, but the technologies so far have not yet reached a level that can be revealed.Although the technologies for categorizing and analyzing raw data are still not ready, storing raw data are still necessary as the data stored long time ago may still need to be reviewed after related technologies are available.We have been looking to develop technologies to help merge and store raw data in a format that takes less storage space, so our clients will be able to use the cold data for their future needs.Q: What does Pure Storage think of edge computing?A: Edge computing is a big business opportunity for us as the related devices are the one collecting data via IoT sensors and processing analysis tasks. Since storage will also be one of the edge computing devices' main functions, our solutions are able to assist our clients with needs for edge computing applications over deployment and management.Pure Storage VP and chief architect Robert LeePhoto: Aaron Lee, Digitimes, April 2018