Seen as an extension to the ongoing bilateral trade spats, the US Department of Commerce has imposed a ban on ZTE for sanctions violations, prohibiting American firms from selling components to the China telecom equipment maker for seven years. The move has not only dealt a heavy blow to ZTE, but may also threaten the development of industry value chains.It remains uncertain whether ZTE may eventually be given some kind of repreive by the US, but the development has sounded a grave warnign for everyone in the IT industry. Taiwan makers must not feel upbeat about possible order shifts resulting from the ZTE ban, and must instead speed up their R&D and improve their technological prowess to avert possible risks associated with the escalating US-China trade tensions.If the ban stays as it is for the next seven years, ZTE's future looks grim, facing a possibility that the company might not last that long.ZTE operationsIn 2017, ZTE posted revenues of CNY108.8 billion (US$17.27 billion), surging 7.5% on year. Revenues from the domestic market accounted for CNY61.9 billion, up 5.8% on year, and those from overseas markets showed a higher annual growth of 9.8% to reach CNY46.9 billion.Among the firm's three business sectors, equipment supply to telecom operators commanded the largest revenue portion at CNY63.8 billion, followed by CNY35.2 billion from sales of consumer products mainly including smartphones, home routers and wireless routers, and CNY9.83 billion from B2B sales of communication products and technologies.At the moment, ZTE is China's second largest telecom equipment supplier, next to Huawei. With 5G communication networks to start official run in 2020, ZTE has invested heavily in R&D projects associated with 5G frequency spectrums, core networks, base stations and chipset solutions, and has also completed 5G network equipment tests for more than 20 telecom operators in China and other countries.In the consumer business sector, ZTE has sustained steady growth in smartphone sales in the US and China, with its total smartphone shipments estimated at 46 million units for 2017. The growing demand for 4K HRD TVsets has also helped ZTE register good shipment numbers for its fixed-network broadband products.In the B2B sales sector, ZTE has zeroed in on transportation, energy, finance, enterprises and education segments for priority promotion of its communication products and technologies, which mainly include virtualized datacenters, distributed databases and big data analysis.Impacts facing ZTEAs ZTE has maintained close partnerships with many US firms in the fields of telecom equipment, fixed networks, smartphone chips and radio frequency devices, the company will be unable to deliver shipments due to the ensuing lack of key components.Some industry observers estimate that ZTE's chip inventory can last only for one month, and therefore ZTE will suffer irreversible operating losses if it fails to get a reprieve by mid-May.ZTE will definitely be hit hard, but it won't be alone. The globalization of industry value chains means many other firms in both the US and China will also feel the impact of escalating trade tensions between the two countries.China has achieved major advancements and strong competitiveness in such industrial sectors as display panels, passive components, LED, computer chassis, and PV power. The only major exception is semiconductor, a sector where China still lags the US by a few generations. China now still relies on foreign makers for the supply of over 90% domestic chip demand, and can hardly see a clear future for its semiconductor industry despite aggressive deployments in wafer foundry, IC design and memory production.US partners to suffer major lossesAlthough ZTE will bear the brunt of the impact from the ruling by the US Department of Commerce, relevant US partners will suffer as a result. For instance, smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm will incur operating loss of some US$500 million based on a unit price of US$25 for chips needed for 46 million smartphones delivered by ZTE in 2017.Once the trade row spreads to other China smartphone vendors such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo, US partners in the smartphone supply chains will face unimaginable business losses, given their combined total shipments of over 350 million units estimated for 2018, observers indicated.On another front, China now boasts the largest number of 4G users in the world and also shows the biggest demand for telecom equipment, given that China Mobile alone has operated up to 1.47 million 4G base stations. Accordingly, once US suppliers are prohibited from selling equipment and components to China, such major players as Broadcom and Skyworks may also face substantial losses.

China International Medical Equipment Fair 2018 taking place in Shanghai, eastern China, during April 11-14 reflected the takeoff of smart medical care in China in 2018, according to Digitimes Research.First-tier public hospitals and private ones have adopted smart pharmaceutical administration and AI (artificial intelligence)-assisted procedures in medical care, and smart ward and smart medical logistics solutions will be applied to hospitals next, Digitimes Research indicated. As the China government boosts integration of medical care resources in the same regions and management in chronic diseases, local hospitals and clinics increasingly use cloud computing in medical care operation as well as set up physiological measurement units and adopt portable biometric devices.

India is the world's third biggest solar power market and its solar industry has been growing at a tremendous pace. It has already achieved the target of 20GW it had set for 2022, and it has now set to achieve 100GW in the next four years. India is also home to the world's largest solar park: the 2000MW Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka covers a total area of 13,000 acres.Cumulative capacity of installed solar power generation in India, 2011-2016 (MW)Source: TechSci ResearchInternational Solar Alliance (ISA)To further accelerate the solar growth story, India's brainchild, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) was launched on November 30, 2015 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). ISA became a legal entity in December 2017, and Feb 9, 2018 it became a registered entity under UN Charter. ISA is a treaty-based alliance, currently having 121 member countries with the sole aim to promote rapid and massive deployment of solar energy.At the ISA's Founding Conference held in New Delhi in March 2018, prime minister Modi announced one of the world's largest investment plans in solar energy: a US$1.4 billion line of credit to cover 27 projects in 15 countries and boost the much-required financial power to the solar sector. The prime minister also announced the launch of Solar Technology Mission to lead R&D efforts in the solar sector. The summit was co-chaired by French president Emmanuel Macron along with 61 representatives from the 121 member countries.According to ISA director general, Upendra Tripathy, the ISA will generate a global solar market of a trillion dollars and generate political support for the solar roadmaps of member countries in areas of demand aggregation, innovation, standards, quality control, R& D and capacity building.The objectives of ISA are: To undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance, cost of technology; spur investments across the supply chain, including manufacturing, project development and storage; mobilize more than US$1,000 billion of investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy; and pave the way for future technologies adaptation.ISA enjoys a unique positioning as it partners with sun-rich developing countries and acts as an enabler and facilitator with the sole aim to make green energy available to all.Capacity Addition: The Indian NarrativeIndia's solar power initiatives at the global stage reflect recent trends within the country. Some of the local initiatives by the Modi administration include:- Installation of 100GW of solar capacity by 2022- Prioritizing the expansion of solar over other renewables technologies- Launch of a reverse auction system for solar capacity to attract investors into the market - strengthening the project pipeline- Increasing the availability of funding to the renewables sector- Allocation of concentrated zones of development for ultra-mega solar power projects (UMSPP) to de-risk project development by - driving down the implementation time and cost of projects- Increasing power demand and prices for fossil fuels- The National Solar Mission (NSM) projected to gradually lower installation cost of systemImprovements in manufacturing technology have led to the reduction in cost of solar panels which has resulted in reduction in cost of solar power generation. The reduction in the cost of solar power coupled with strategic policy of the government has resulted in increase in solar power into the energy mix of the country.Trends of Indian solar power tariff, 2011-2017Source: India governmentTo boost the solar power generation in the country, the government of India has announced various policies and regulations including: accelerated depreciation; capital subsidy; Renewable Energy Certificate (RECs); Net Metering Incentives; and Assured Power Purchase agreement. The schemes formulated by the government intends to reduce the capital expenditure in building a solar power plant, and subsidize the power generation to make it economically viable for the stakeholders involved in the solar power business.The cumulative effect of solar power initiatives projects an addition of India's solar capacity to the tune of 56GW over the next five years.Opportunities for Taiwan's Solar IndustryIndia's current and future prospects in solar power initiatives intersect propitiously with India's lead role in the ISA: they open up tremendous opportunities for Indian solar players at a global stage while also boosting the overall business sentiment.India imports 90% of its solar modules out of which 85% comes from China, which leverages against domestic manufacturers. The government of India has indicated intent to impose duties in the interest of domestic manufacturers. Geopolitically, the ISA is a concerted attempt by India to checkmate China's leadership role in the developing world where China, by virtue of its economic prowess, has made huge inroads over the past two decades.A global leader in the solar industry, Taiwan has a well-established ecosystem in place. Its capacity to innovate and produce wafers to cells, and modules to complete PV systems presents a strategic opportunity for Taiwan's industries to collaborate. Given that Taiwan's local market is already saturated, any way forward must focus on the export market. To facilitate this orientation, the India-driven ISA member countries expand the market exponentially. In sum, India's large greenfield market and India-led ISA provides an excellent platform for Taiwan's solar industry to capture not only India but also the global solar market.Showcasing its commitment as a global leader in solar power, India will be hosting the Solar India 2018 Expo at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from 23-25 May, 2018.(The author of this article, Jonathan Lalremruata, will coordinate Taiwan-based industries at the Expo in New Delhi. He may be contacted at: jonathan.lalremruata@gmail.com)

BEVs (battery electric vehicles) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) show significant performances in MPG (miles per gallon of gasoline) equivalent and energy savings.Among new car models for 2018, a BEV has a maximum MPGe of 136 and minimum annual energy cost of US$500 in terms of fuel economy, followed by a PHEV with a maximum MPGe of 133 and minimum annual energy cost of US$600, Digitimes Research have found.Previous hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) were of series, parallel and series-parallel types of driving systems, with MPG mostly exceeding 47 and average annual energy cost of about US$700. However, HEVs' batteries are recharged by internal combustion engines, or replaced when electricity is depleted. And HEVs discharge quite high volumes of carbon dioxide.BEVs and PHEVs have been developed to solve such problems. Some automakers have launched range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs) and fuel cell EVs to increase total running distance at full storage or electricity, but such models are inferior to BEVs and PHEVs in energy savings.

GeoVision is a Taiwan-based surveillance solution developer in business for over 20 years. Although not as big as some of the international firms, the company is still one of the top-50 players worldwide. But growing competition in the traditional legacy surveillance sector prompted GeoVision to shift its development to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies several years ago, and has since attained high levels of competitiveness in the AI sector. The company's new edge computing type of AI surveillance products are giving GeoVision a good position in the AI surveillance market.Digitimes recently had an opportunity to talk to GeoVision's Max Yang, director of Sales of New Product Division. He talked about the surveillance market's current status and GeoVision's plans for the market.Q: What kind of company is GeoVision? What business segments does GeoVision mainly focus on?A: GeoVision has been operating in Taiwan for over 20 years, focusing primarily on developing image analysis technologies and the integration of surveillance software and hardware that cover segments ranging from back-end server systems to front-end cameras.Among the surveillance applications, our expertise is on the security field and facial recognition is a key technology that GeoVision has been developing for its latest products during the past couple of years and will be our promotion focus for 2018.As for our business model, GeoVision is a manufacturer and also a vendor of its own-brand surveillance products. But it has begun providing ODM services to support some of our regional brand clients since two years ago. We have established a new department for the ODM business, which is currently contributing about 20% of the company's revenues.Q: What is the surveillance market's current status?A: Currently, the surveillance market has two major sectors: the traditional legacy surveillance and digital artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance.The traditional legacy surveillance system is composed of conventional cameras and a back-end server. The back-end server retrieves video data from the cameras for storage and users are able to view the recorded footage via the server system. The sector is currently being dominated by China-based suppliers with the top players accounting for 50% of the sector's shipments worldwide.Although customers are able to obtain inexpensive solutions from these China-based suppliers, there are security concerns since most of their products use the same hardware configurations and software systems to cut down costs. And these suppliers usually do not bother to encrypt the video data or enforce security measures on the surveillance system's management platform, allowing hackers to easily gain control of their systems.With dwindling profitability from the traditional legacy surveillance sector, Taiwan and other international surveillance product firms have mostly turned to the newer-generation surveillance camera systems such as those integrated with AI support.The largest player of the digital AI surveillance sector is Germany-based Bosch, which has mainly been obtaining orders from international airports.Q: What is GeoVision's business strategy for the surveillance market?A: GeoVision will continue placing efforts onto its traditional legacy surveillance systems and is at the same time spending resources on the development of AIoT products that integrate AI into Internet of Things (IoT) surveillance devices, targeting market segments including smart retailing, smart factory, smart manufacturing and smart medical care.For the AIoT business, GeoVision is pushing direct partnerships with manufacturers and factories to provide services such as upgrading their existing systems to feature AI support or planning a comprehensive surveillance solution for their new facilities. The partnership will allow GeoVision to fully understand clients' demand and provide corresponding solutions to satisfy their needs.Q: Where are GeoVision's main markets? Any new markets that GeoVision will be targeting?A: North America is currently our largest market with 60% of our revenues generated from the region. At the beginning, GeoVision's business model in North America was to supply clients with customized surveillance software that could work with their existing low-resolution camera systems but provide more functionality. But as these clients started to see the needs to upgrade their systems to high-resolution digital camera solutions, we became their first choice for procuring surveillance products.North America will remain a key market for GeoVision in 2018 with Japan to also be a major target country for our AIoT solutions in 2018. We have also partnered with a local home security service provider in Taiwan to supply our AIoT products to the market.As for Southeast Asia, GeoVision does not have a branch office in the region and is mainly partnering with local distributors to sell its products. We are aware of the region's growing demand for IT applications over the past few years and will consider establishing an office there if we are able to identify any good opportunity or local partner that can help us quickly expand into the market.Q: What is GeoVision's competitiveness?A: With the traditional legacy surveillance sector mired in fierce price competition, AI technologies are the key to differentiate the digital AI surveillance system sector from the traditional legacy surveillance one. For GeoVision, the company's R&D focus is facial recognition technologies and applications.Compared to others, the special thing about our facial recognition technologies is that we have implemented the innovations onto the cameras instead of the back-end server. The concept of the edge computing surveillance system means our clients do not need to fully replace their existing systems in order to acquire AI surveillance functions for their facilities.Currently, there are three types of AI facial recognition surveillance systems available in the market. The first type is through support from cloud computing service providers such as Google, Amazon, Tencent and Alibaba. The surveillance system can perform the facial recognition functionality by sending video data to one of these players' cloud computing platforms for analysis via high-speed Internet. However, the downside of the process is it involves high costs for the service and Internet support. Another key issue is that some companies do not wish to send their surveillance data to outside companies due to security concerns and these problems have lmited demand for this type of serivce.The second type is the full surveillance solution with the back-end server system being the one handling the facial recognition task. But such a solution will require clients to replace the whole surveillance system and add up costs.The third one is the edge computing-type surveillance with the face recognition handled directly by the cameras, and this is the direction that GeoVision is currently devoted to. Our cameras feature application processors from Qualcomm and memory for processing facial recognition functionality and clients can easily view any information the cameras analyze and store.Our cameras are able to recognize 10 faces at once and are suitable for automated employee time recording and office building access control to help keep intruders out. The systems can also be adopted in retail stores where the cameras can detect the stores' MVPs or any specific person and create alerts to notify store clerks.Max Yang, director of Sales of New Product Division, GeoVisionPhoto: Company

Linde Electronics, a member of The Linde Group, is one of the major global manufacturers of bulk and electronic specialty gases used during the manufacturing of semiconductors, displays, solar panels, LEDs and other electronics products.Facing the severe challenges of advanced semiconductor process technology nodes in sub-micron grade of silicon chips manufacturing, the company established Linde Electronics research and development center (Linde ERDC) in 2016 to enhance its local capabilities and product portfolio to meet growing demands from industries. Linde ERDC, located at Taichung Harbor Related Industrial Park in Taiwan, is a two-floor building design with advanced gases analytic laboratories and a product development centre. This ERDC has been operating to provide analytic services of high-purity electronic gases in Asia Pacific regions and is also focusing on the development of new materials, packages and services. It has supported the launch of several joint development projects to test and make new materials in-house with the closed collaboration with customers and third-party suppliers for the purposes of reduced cost, process and development time.During a recent interview, Linde Electronics' head of Electronics Technology and Innovation, Carl Jackson, pointed out that the global leading-edge pure-play semiconductor foundries have been in a tight race to lead process technology development and are migrating from 10 to 5 to even 3 nanometers in the coming years. It is becoming more critical for them to improve their electronic performance by integrating other materials when processes push the limits of silicon physics, especially considering the joint development of ultra-purity materials. Meeting this challenge is a key driving force for Linde ERDC working in tight cooperation close to customers.Jackson observed that in the early 1990s period, some materials being supplied were in the of 99% purity range. Today, industries are requesting products of 7N grade, which means 99.99999% purity, with the possibility to move to even tighter product purity specifications in the next few years. For those ultra-high purity materials, it is very important for the customers such as for Taiwan first tier semiconductor and electronics manufacturers to request proper measurement of the materials when various chemical treatments purifies them through processes. This is why Linde ERDC plays an important role in advanced process development fields.Another obvious benefit of Linde ERDC has been largely used by local customers: testing speed of the labs. Most Asia clients prefer to send the sample to a local analysis laboratory in order to obtain results faster. This is one of the the reasons why Linde Electronics continues to invest in local capabilities in Asia Pacific.Linde Electronics' non-stop efforts to pursue material development excellence achieves the strengthening of corporate core competence successfully. These strategies also leverage the synergy to maximize customers' value and win the market. Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing service providers own the superior manufacturing capability and readily react instantly toward the rapidly changing market. Therefore, Linde ERDC partners with Taiwanese companies to form a competitive edge and to be successful in the market. Here is the Q&A with Carl Jackson.Q: Linde ERDC was opened at the end of 2016. What has happened since then?A: Well, the first thing to say is that overall Linde Electronics had a very positive year in 2017. We are continuing to invest significantly in this region both in our on-site business, but also in our electronics special gases capabilities, so the set-up of this facility looks to be well-timed to support this growth and is fully aligned with our "Local Partner, Global Expertise" strategy.From the ERDC perspective, we have been very busy with one of our main activities here, which is the "fingerprinting" of materials. This means essentially processing materials through all our analysis systems to enable us to see a complete profile of the material quality, often looking much deeper than the standard specification. With this information, we are better positioned, for example, to ensure that our sub-suppliers' raw material meets our demanding operational requirements or that we are able to quickly support our customers should they need to fix or improve a particular process.Another focus area that we continue to ramp is the development of new products, in collaboration with our customers. For a material supplier like Linde Electronics, the definition of a new product has a broad scope. We can be talking about a new molecule not conventionally used in IC manufacturing that is needed to enable a new process application. It could be an existing material that is required at a higher purity, it could be a new method or equipment to deliver materials to the customer process, or it could be a combination. We are working on examples of all of these new products here in Taiwan.Q: How is having a local R&D team helping to bring value to customers in this region?A: Our investment in this facility has been very well received by our customers, who have been very quick to see the additional service and support these physical capabilities can provide. However, enabling us to get the most value out of these capabilities is our local team, which is centered here and stretches out into China and Korea.Clearly we have put a lot of emphasis on being close to our customers, which is essential when trying to coordinate the type of complex development projects that we manage. Sometimes technology does help and we can work effectively as a virtual team; however, for most projects, we need to be here, we need to be local to really understand what the customer needs and when, and we need to deliver on our commitments.Working with our regional businesses has also benefited from our new capabilities here enabling the Improvement of supply chain reliability for certain existing products. We are working on several initiatives to help our regional business localize the production of electronic specialty gases or other value-added activities so that our customers have ready access to local supply of products rather than having to rely on the traditional long supply chains.Q: Following the success here in Taiwan, do you plan to add more R&D centers in other countries in Asia?A: Linde has a significant and long-established R&D presence already in China, for example, serving our related industry sectors such as Metals and Glass, Food and Additive Manufacturing. From an electronics perspective, we are well positioned in Taiwan to serve all customers in the east Asia region. It is possible in the future that we could expand our advanced analytical capabilities, however, for product development, you need a certain critical mass of highly specialized personnel, who operate most effectively when co-located so we will continue to build our development team here.Q: What main challenges do you see looking forward?A: Our customers' speed and scope of technological innovation is relentless. Keeping pace with this and ensuring we are working in the areas that bring most value will remain a challenge as no material supplier can effectively operate in all areas. As I mentioned earlier, we have been seeing more and more non-traditional materials on the customers' development planning roadmaps, which can present an analytical challenge for us. Also, these materials may be supplied as liquids or solids, so the delivery from the source to the tool also needs a significant amount of focus to bring to high-volume manufacturing readiness.That said, we have a lot of experience successfully serving this market and are further encouraged by our experience during our first full year of operation here in Taiwan. We feel very well positioned to be able to work with our customers to solve these challenges in a way that also supports our continued growth and investment in this region.Head of Linde T&I E, Carl JacksonInner view of Linde ERDCLinde ERDC

Global TDDI (touch and display driver integration) chip shipments are expected to hit the five million mark in 2018, Digitimes Research estimates.Novatek Microelectronics and Himax Technologies are set to join Synaptics and FocalTech Systems capable of volume producing their TDDI solutions for smartphone panels in 2018, according to Digitimes Research.On the demand side, the growing popularity of bezel-less smartphones is encouraging flat display panel makers to ramp up their production of profiled all-screen displays. With the all-screen design becoming a popular feature for smartphones, the TDDI chip market is expected to grow robustly in 2018.The 2018 market for TDDI chips will continue to be led by Synaptics, whose display driver IC lineup provides support for high panel resolutions such as Full HD (FHD), and LTPS (low-temperature poly-silicon) technology. Nevertheless, Synaptics with its relatively high prices compared to rivals will face more competition in the mainstream smartphone market segment, Digitimes Research believes.Smartphone vendors are looking to increasingly adopt LTPS LCD panels in their bezel-less models in 2018 which will boost Synaptics' shipments during the year. In 2017, Synaptics' shipments were affected negatively by smartphone vendors' preference for AMOLED panels, as well as less-optimistic high-end smartphone shipments.FocalTech has gradually expanded its presence in the mainstream smartphone segment with its chips supporting a-Si TFT LCD HD display resolutions, Digitimes Research has observed. FocalTech's TDDI chips still have a cost advantage over its new competitors in the mainstream segment, and the company is expected to enjoy significant shipment growth in 2018.

The government of India launched an ambitious plan to transition to an all-electric vehicular (EV) fleet by 2030. This plan has revved up the Indian automotive industry, in line with the global trends, marking the end of internal combustion engines (ICE). It is evident from the recently concluded India Auto Expo, where most leading domestic and international automakers displayed electric vehicles - bus, cars, motorcycles, and scooters - that the transition to EV has taken off in India.The driving forces for EV in IndiaReduce ever-increasing fuel billIndia is the world's third largest oil importer; oil import bill is set to touch US$88 billion by 2017-18 increasing by 25% from US$70 billion in 2016-17 out of which 65-70% is used for transportation. By 2030, India oil import bill is pegged to reach US$300 billion causing a major concern for the India government. Accelerated adoption of electric vehicles could save US$60 billion in diesel and petrol costs while cutting down as much as one gigaton (GT) of carbon emissions for India by 2030.Pollution control Electric vehicles have zero emission. Through EV adoption, India could save 64% of energy demand for road transport and 37% or 1GT of carbon emissions by 2030.Improvements in EV technologyRecent trends in the automobile industry indicate that the world is overtaken by the EV wave to replace ICE-vehicles. EV technology has undergone tremendous improvement over the years including: increase in range and battery storage capacity; better cost efficiencys; and shorter charge time. The cost of battery power has fallen from around US$1,000 per kWh in 2010 to around US$227 in 2016, and is expected to drop below US$200 per kWh by 2020.India government initiativesFaster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India, or FAME, is aimed at promoting the use of EVs in multimodal public transport to help lower pollution levels in urban areas. In order to accelerate the adoption of EVs, the government of India is offering incentives to cities with population of more than one million. Under FAME initiative, the central government is looking to offer incentives for the procurement of electric cars, city buses, as well as three-wheelers. The government is offering grants of US$16.2 million (INR105 Cr) to every selected city. Additional incentives of US$2.3 million will also be provided to each city for the construction of EV charging infrastructure. The criteria for short listing dictate that each city should have a population above one million, as per 2011 census. The incentives will be used only to buy electric buses, three-wheelers, and passenger cars running on new-generation batteries with traces of lead like lithium polymer, lithium iron phosphate, nickel metal hydride and zinc air, among others.Components and outlay under FAME schemeComponent under FAMEFY2015-16 INRm (US$m)FY2016-17INRm (US$m)Technology platorm700 (10.5)1,200 (18)Demand incentives1,550 (23.25)3,400 (51)Charging infrastructure100 (1.5)200 (3)Pilot projects200 (3)500 (7.5)IEC/operations50 (0.75)50 (0.75)Total2,600 (39)5350 (80.25)Source: FAMEIndia unveiled the 'National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020' in 2013 to address the issue of national energy security, vehicular pollution and growth of domestic manufacturing capabilities. It aims to achieve national fuel security by promoting hybrid and electric vehicles in the country. There is an ambitious target to achieve 6-7 million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles year on year from 2020 onwards. NEMMP 2020 envisions the deployment of 5-7 million electric vehicles in the country by 2020; and 400,000 passenger battery electric cars (BEVs) saving 4 million tonnes of CO2 with a required investment of US$3 billion. With the support from the government, the cumulative sale is expected to reach 15-16 million by 2020One of the main detriments for EV adoption is the expensive battery cost. In order to address this issue the government of India announced incentives for battery makers to set up more manufacturing units in India. The government is in talks with resource-rich countries to ensure supplies of raw materials such as lithium.Opportunity for Taiwan India's EV wave provides Taiwan component manufacturers a huge opportunity given Taiwan's leadership in electronics, and the matured and complete auto components manufacturing ecosystem. Industry leaders were thrilled to learn that pioneering EV technology including: Tesla's original technology and the successful Gogoro e-scooter were from Taiwan. While the Indian government - at both the central and state levels - is framing its own EV policies, they are looking up to Taiwan for its best practices. This symbiotic development in India's EV future opens up expansive collaborative opportunities between India and Taiwan:*Indian automakers and components manufacturers/suppliers are all in their strategic planning stage for EV which makes it an ideal time for collaboration and exploring business opportunities*Indian automakers and components manufacturers are looking for the basic EV components, namely: electric motor, controller, battery pack, charger, DC/DC converter, contactors.*For Taiwan or any foreign component suppliers it is key to manufacture in India and have a JV/partnership with credible Indian entity. A strict anti-dumping policy and increased imports duties on auto components has been put in place in order to promote local manufacturing.*For EV component manufacturers, it is critical that they have: Appetite to make in India; JV/partnership with Indian entity; robust R&D and clear roadmap in each of their manufactured product/field; strong service support/after sales support; and open for joint development(JDM) projects.*Workshop/roadshow at automakers factory showcasing EV components solution and products and interaction with engineers. Workshop is welcomed by most automakers.*Collaboration with thinktank and government departments, particularly departments of transport and non renewable energy, to help define India EV policies.(Note: Jonathan Lalremruata is a consultant for India Market Entry. Jonathan is an alumnus of Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University and ITRI. He has over a decade of global experience in the ICT industry and specializes in India-Taiwan industrial collaboration. He can be reached at jonathan.lalremruata@gmail.com)

The global semiconductor industry posted its highest-ever annual sales in 2017. With major technology players all wanting a slice of the Asia Pacific market, the strategies and operations of Avnet, a leading global technology distributor and solutions provider, play a crucial role in ensuring the company's success.In an exclusive interview, Frederick Fu, president of Avnet Asia Pacific, shares his views on the trends and changes of the global electronics industry in 2018 as well as Avnet's key strategies in the region.Smart applications built on IoT and cloud computing are the global trends for 2018On the outlook of the global electronics industry in 2018, Fu thinks the industry is trending toward "smartization" - including IoT and cloud computing applications that are already prevalent in the market. Businesses are able to provide better service models by leveraging smart applications for data collection and analysis.Fu further explains that IoT is not new in the industry. Once low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies become widely available, we can expect to see a more aggressive adoption of IoT. Take smart buildings for example. It used to require electrical wiring for end devices in a building to be able to engage in communication. Now this is possible simply by putting batteries and sensors in end devices. The batteries can last up to five years without the need for replacement. Wiring installation is also not necessary so this saves a great deal of time and money in planning and management.In addition, some recent hot topics including advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous cars, and artificial intelligence (AI) also have critical influence on the electronics industry. For instance, semiconductor components in an automobile previously accounted for only US$20 to US$30 of the total cost, but now they run up to US$100. With cars becoming increasingly connected, electronics components may account for more than half the cost of an automobile in the future. Tapping the growing opportunity in IoT demand, in the case of ADAS for instance, Avnet has both hardware and software solutions for ADAS that has been implemented in China.The role of distributors is also undergoing changes along with the shifts in the electronics industry. Distributors used to be seen as the middlemen buying and reselling products but now their role goes beyond that. Avnet today serves as the bridge between suppliers and businesses that actively look to provide IoT products and solutions. This has become part of Avnet's business strategies, where its ecosystem connects the different parties with the latest technology– ranging from system integrators, service providers, device manufacturers, to cloud platform providers, and components suppliers – to provide an integrated approach to support and drive innovation and IoT initiatives for its customers.Eyeing Taiwan's advantages, Avnet establishes a wireless charging labAccording to Fu, Taiwan's electronics industry is aligned with global developments, including the smart trend arising from IoT and cloud computing advancements. Despite declining performance in the smartphone and tablet markets, there are still growth opportunities in Taiwan. In terms of IoT developments, the Taiwan industry has built up a solid foundation in network gateways and has been supporting many technology giants. The achievements in these two segments complement each other. Furthermore, Taiwan-based IC designers are gearing developments toward RF, mixed signal and MCU chips, also in consonance with the popular trend. They additionally have geographical advantages with Taiwan's close proximity to China as well as robust foundry technology. As one of the company's biggest market in this region, Avnet is expanding its business in Taiwan, including Taichung and Kaohsiung, to increase customers based in central and southern Taiwan. Its efforts are generating results with a growing number of customers from that region, focusing on factory automation and measuring instruments. Fu indicated Taiwan is an important market for Avnet and Avnet will stay committed to the Taiwan market. It has recently set up the first spec 1.2.4 wireless charging laboratory to support the growing demand for wireless charging and help customers accelerate the process of certification. Equipped with WPC approved test equipment nok9 CATS I and CATS II, Avnet has also formed a partnership with a test lab to ensure stringent test criteria are adhered to. Avnet effectively shortens the certification process and lead time leading to faster product launches.Expanding business scope, a distributor does more than distributingWith regards to Avnet's short-term market strategies, Fu pointed out that Avnet will continue to provide design and supply chain capabilities, as well as product development to market. The maker and startup markets are also among Avnet's focus segments. Avnet has been undertaking a series of acquisitions and expansions since 2016 to accommodate the small-quantity large-variety characteristic of business, which is also spurring a rapidly growing number of makers and startups."Small and medium enterprises are not afraid to reinvent the wheel to bring in a new wave of innovation and trends. They have great potential for rapid growth in the future or stand a chance of being acquired by big companies. Avnet has invested resources in building a connected ecosystem to help startups become the next unicorn," said Fu.IoT as well nurturing startups remain the core of Avnet's focus in the coming year. Avnet will continue to invest in the IoT space to continuously enhance our IoT solutions to the market. As a key differentiator from other distributors, the company also helps to bridge the gap between the startups and market to guide them from idea to production to market.Frederick Fu, president of Avnet Asia PacificA chronicle of Avnet's recent business expansions

Manufacturers today are looking to transform traditional production systems as they struggle to addresses challenges associated with shortening product life cycles, rising labor costs and wide-ranging consumer demands. This has given rise to Industry 4.0, smart factory and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) developments, which are also propelling growing applications of machine vision technologies.Alex Liang, product manager, IoT Solutions and Technology Group, ADLINK, thinks three critical trends will lead future developments of machine vision. With these trends come both new opportunities and challenges for machine vision.First of all, with widespread applications of big data analytics, businesses demand higher data processing efficiency and are growingly making use of distributed computing, cloud computing, fog computing or edge computing. This is bringing changes to where and how machine vision is used. Machine vision systems have to make a breakthrough from the traditional concept of gauge, inspection, guide and identification (GIGI) to include the ability to perform computation and analysis and work in conjunction with other devices.Furthermore, maturing IoT technologies have enabled a variety of devices to become connected. Communication across different devices via a network has become necessary. Therefore, communication solutions including OPC unified architecture (OPC-UA), Robot Operating System 2.0 (ROS 2), Data Distribution Service (DDS) and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) are increasingly important and will influence machine vision developments.In response to shorter product life cycles, manufacturers endeavor to accelerate production to accommodate rapid market changes so they are keen to adopt easy and ready-to-use solutions to help them shorten the learning curve and speed up the introduction process. This is leading the development of machine vision software to gear toward simple, intuitive and user-friendly design.Machine vision infused with innovations becomes instrumental to smart manufacturingAccording to Liang, in the foreseeable future, machine vision will not only be used to perform quality inspection but it should also play an active role to allow robots to have human-like vision so that they can easily carry out loading, picking, gripping and packing operations with no need for an intricate guiding process. To achieve such purposes, machine vision systems have to incorporate the ability to collect, analyze and process large amounts of data in real time while supporting close communication with other devices. Therefore, how machine vision can keep up with advancing technologies such as edge computing, OPC-UA, ROS 2 and vision guided robotics (VGR) to fully support smart manufacturing requirements on high efficiency, high precision and low latency has become the next topic and challenge.Take edge computing for example. The traditional machine vision design has separate camera modules and processing units (industrial PC). However, the rapid growth of data volume imposes increasingly challenging requirements on computational power so now the camera module has to turn into an edge-located computing node that can pre-process data and offload some of the burden from the processing unit.OPC-UA, a machine-to-machine communication protocol for industrial automation, enables heterogeneous platforms or devices in a smart factory to communicate and exchange data. In the past, machine vision systems engage in communication with PLC, I/O or motion control equipment through various specific protocols or customized functions, making integration very difficult. The availability of OPC-UA will be able to resolve such problems.The combination of ROS 2 and VGR equips robots or automated guided vehicles (AGV) with machine vision to enhance their efficiency and ability to work in synchronization. ROS is an open-source robotics operating system. The first generation ROS 1 is based on the TCP/IP protocol while the later generation ROS 2 is built on the UDP+DDS architecture and provides more powerful support for real-time data sharing between devices with robust security. Major robot manufacturers worldwide have all implemented support for ROS 2 using common SLAM, Navigation, Perception and Manipulation resources and algorithms. This not only enables problem-free communication across robotic systems but also builds a broad development platform for machine vision. Factories in the future will no longer have independent devices or work stations but instead can connect robotic arms, AGV and other machinery of different brands to realize smart manufacturing for wide-ranging production needs through the new VGR concept.In addition to the above trends, the development of deep learning should also be considered when we try to figure out where machine vision technologies and applications are headed, commented Liang. Deep learning is not a new technology. It basically imitates the workings of the human brain to carry out recognition, decision-making and prediction through training using a neural network paradigm. Execution of deep learning tasks used to rely on high-performance CPUs but the costs ran high and the processing took a long time. Advancements in GPU technologies in recent years have allowed GPUs to process graphics with a much higher efficiency than CPUs. Deep learning leveraging the GPU's processing power has therefore become a technology with a high cost-performance value. The marriage between deep learning and machine vision can be expected to create far-reaching synergy in the future.Looking ahead to 2018, ADLINK hopes to provide total solutions designed to enable quick introduction and optimal values for Industry 4.0, smart factory and IIoT applications. For this purpose, ADLINK will highlight edge computing, ROS 2 and deep learning as its focus R&D areas. The integration of these innovative technologies will complement the company's machine vision product portfolio, including smart cameras and image processing systems.For more information, please visit ADLINKMachine vision infused with innovations becomes instrumental to smart manufacturing