Virtual reality (VR) has been a hot topic in recent years. The immersive experiences mainly rely on sufficient real-time image computation. Images are clearly and realistically presented, while image data are put in the correct positions within milliseconds, producing a complete VR visual experience. AMD is accelerating the development of VR applications to actively penetrate into the fields of VR and gaming. AMD's VR technology will enable brand new presentation experiences to a host of applications including simulation, gaming, entertainment, education, social media, travel, healthcare, real estate, and e-commerce.Integrating software and hardware, AMD expands into VR market at full throttleThe VR market relies on innovative technologies to push it forward. For example, VR technology does not simply divide an original image into visual outputs for the left and right eyes, but involves how to render an output image in correspondence to respective viewing by the left eye and right eye, while dynamically correct distortion occurring at the edge of the image during operation. AMD's pioneering VR technology LiquidVR embeds asynchronous shaders and integrates multiple GPU, enabling developers to easily configure VR graphics output with reduced render time and optimized visual experience. LiquidVR's enhanced performance efficiency and plug-and-play compatibility with VR headsets deliver a whole new level of presence. Winning the prestigious Lumiere Award from the Advanced Imaging Society, LiquidVR is recognized for its contribution to the advancement of entertainment technology.AMD launched the high-end flagship Radeon R9 Fury series graphics cards in mid-2015, which is designed with High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) in combination with 4096-bit GDDR5 memory architecture and 512 Gb/s memory bandwidth to meet the performance requirements for VR graphics output. Designed with the same memory architecture on a mini ITX motherboard, Radeon R9 Nano, nicknamed "ITX little cannon," features energy efficiency and optimum performance supporting dynamic computation for VR graphics processing, while maintaining a compact PC form factor.Added with the support for Vulkan technology, new OpenGL 4.5 and OpenCL 2.0, the Radeon R9 Fury series enables developers to use these tools to design different VR application services or games. As VR technology progresses toward maturity, AMD expects to continue working with industry partners to drive VR technology advancement, which will be incorporated extensively in its graphics cards to deliver more realistic and vivid VR experience.The Main Virtual Reality Market is still on the PC SideA number of VR technologies are currently available on mobile devices. For example, Google's Cardboard VR makes use of smartphone computation resources and its collaboration with GoPro allows users to shoot 360° panoramic video for uploading onto YouTube and viewing on VR displays. Samsung is also attempting to penetrate into the VR market with its smartphone products.However, as there are still technological breakthroughs to be made, PC-based VR applications remain the market mainstream as they are more capable of delivering complete, refined and accurate images and even achieve human-machine interaction in a VR environment.AMD is working with Oculus VR, currently adopted by most developers, to fundamentally change users' gaming experience by introducing advanced features including asynchronous timewarp and late latching to guarantee top-notch Oculus user experience on AMD hardware. Oculus Rift is expected to go on sale early next year, which requires a minimum hardware spec equivalent to AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics cards. AMD will to tackle the VR market at full throttle. Innovative VR applications will also be available on notebook PC in the future.Through the integration of hardware and software, AMD is currently devoting many resources into the R&D of VR technologies, vertically integrating its graphics organization to penetrate completely into immersive imaging developments. Amid market competitions, AMD expects to maintain its technological leading edge with its abundant R&D resources and long-term experience in gaming market expansions, expecting to staking leadership positions in new markets such as virtual and augmented reality.AMD's cutting-edge technology continues to lead gaming R&D forwardIn terms of current mainstream gaming applications, in addition to AMD's graphics card products providing substantial performance, AMD FRTC technology also allows developers to configure frame rates, thereby controlling graphics output qualities, avoiding temperatures rising due to unnecessary usage of resources, and reducing noise caused by the high-speed fans on the graphics cards.AMD's GCN architecture is not only deeply integrated with Microsoft DirectX 12, but also gives developers complete access to applications. Through the use of asynchronous shader technology, graphics output can maintain a refined display quality without affecting the frame rate. In combination with other advanced designs such as the multi-threaded command buffer technology, CPU (or APU) can directly communicate with GPU and precisely allocate GPU resources to enable parallel computation, delivering higher graphics quality.The next-generation Radeon R9 Fury series, which is based on the "Fiji" graphics core architecture, uses chip stacking technology and high-bandwidth memory to enable 4K resolution images and stable VR graphics output. When used with corresponding FreeSync technology displays, screen tearing issues are greatly improved, producing smoother games and videos with up to 4K resolutions.By integrating its own APU and Radeon graphics cards, AMD is rapidly gaining grounds in the customization market. AMD has engaged in collaboration projects with world-leading companies, including next generation game consoles PlayStation 4 with Sony and Xbox One with Microsoft. Prior partnership work includes graphics components designed for Nintendo Wii series. By leveraging its advanced technologies, AMD is well-positioned to capture more business opportunities and deliver the newest, enriched and realistic gaming experience.AMD's pioneering VR technology LiquidVR embeds asynchronous shaders and integrates multiple GPU, enabling developers to easily configure VR graphics output with reduced render time and optimized visual experience.

The recent launch of AWS (Amazon Web Services) IoT service by Amazon symbolizes the deployment of related IoT technologies has reached out from the initial concerns on protocol, gateway and sensor nodes to cloud services, according to Digitimes Research. The launch of the AWS IoT service will also help accelerate the development of the IoT cloud service market as a number of other players including the AllSeen Alliance led by Qualcomm, Microsoft/IBM, Facebook and Cisco Systems have pioneered IoT cloud services. The AWS IoT platform will also serve as a catalyst to deepen the functionality of related cloud services to cater to individual industries and to the pursuit of more rigorous protection mechanisms for information transmission as well as smarter cloud functionality, Digitimes Research commented. Intel has suggested the use of the EPID (Enhanced PrivacyID) standards to enhance the security of data transmission via public networks, and the standards have received endorsements from other chip vendors including Atmel (Dialog Semiconductor) and Microchip. Other cloud service providers have also begun to strengthen their security mechanisms, Digitimes Research noted.

Embedded systems are ubiquitous and have long become an integral part of our life in various aspects. The performance of these systems is crucial to the smooth running of various functions of society. Clientron was established in 1983 and has been focusing on thin client, point of sales (POS), and car PC solutions. It is dedicated to providing the most reliable and secure embedded system solutions. With years of professional experience in the embedded system sector, Clientron is making headway into the Internet of Things (IoT) market to expand the product portfolio and business scope."I don't like to refer to thin clients as 'simplified PCs' in Chinese," said Kelly Wu, president of Clientron. "This may lead people think thin clients are very simple products. In fact a thin client requires design usually characterized by high reliability and low power consumption of the system. Also, to provide the right tools for thin clients, the systems are often customized to meet the specific needs of different industries. The systems have to be flexible to provide highly efficiency system platforms catering for the needs of entry-level to high-end sectors. Hence, to provide the right product, Clientron needs to have certain knowledge of various industries in order to produce highly customized tools. The entry barrier for this industry is not low."Powerful thin clients define generation 3.0Clientron's thin client team has comprehensive knowledge for each phase of the business - from product design, manufacturing, quality control, to marketing. Therefore it can provide high quality solutions. This is also the reason why Clientron has maintained an ODM partnership with one of the five largest thin client brands for nearly 20 years. The top-five thin client brands combined market share is about 80% worldwide.Clientron's thin client products are mainly used in industries that feel strongly toward data security such as goverment, banking, and enterprise. In recent years, the firm's products have also been used in logistics control and medical industries. Kerry Logistics, the largest logistics firm in the Greater China region, uses Clientron's thin client products. In addition, thin client products from Clientron can also be found on nursing carts and in hospitals and clinics.So far Clientron has designed more than 50 thin client products for different industries. Wu maintained, "We're so professional that we have the authority to define what thin clients are." Clientron plans to announce the details of Thin Client 3.0 at the 2016 Embedded World Exhibition.Unique POS designs favored by restaurants and retailersClientron's team has been attending various major exhibitions around the world for many years including EuroCIS, FHA, NRA, Embedded World and Computex. "We emphasize heavily on marketing because experience tells us that without seeing the actual products, customers mostly care about pricing. But once they see the actual products, prices becomes less of an issue and instead they will be very eager to have samples," said Wu.As for the POS product line, Clientron introduces three new designs annually to accommodate the need for ultra-slim and advanced enclosure designs. The firm recently introduced the Ares650 and Wing650. These two products are compact and lightweight, receiving much praise from customers. In particular, the Ares650 was specifically designed with an ultra-compact chassis to accommodate variety of demands in different fields. The product provides optional I/O expansion card modules to increase the flexibility, allowing customers to install POS peripherals in various applications. As for the Wing650, the series was designed with dual hinges to enhance user experience, supporting multi angles adjustment of the screen to allow the user to freely adjust to the best operation angle and fit it into different environments. The POS products provided by Clientron are mostly used in the hospitality and retail markets.Making gains in car PC market, setting sights on IoTIn addition to its success in the thin client and POS sectors, Clientron has also been making gains in the car PC market. The Clientron car PC products have entered the supply chains of Hainan Mazda and King Long United Automotive. Compared with other Taiwan-based car PC firms that only ship to the aftermarket (AM), Clientron has successfully entered the original equipment (OE) supply chain. "We are ready for the China's expanding electric vehicle market. Clientron will start making deployments in 2016 and expects to achieve substantial results in 2017," added Wu.Looking forward, Clientron plans to develop intelligient client solutions for the vertical market, extending thin clients' green energy, eco-friendly and innovative design concepts to various other sectors. Clientron also plans to strengthen their POS product line to provide smart retail and intelligent system solutions with the benefits of higher performance and power efficiency for the retail and hospitality industries. To embrace the era of IoT, Clientron will also develop sensors and edge computers in order to capture niche market opportunities and become a professional IoT solution provider.Kelly Wu, President & CEO of Clientron, discloses that the company is leveraging its embedded systems to expand into the IoT market.

Ultra HD (4K) TVs are expected to make up 23.7% of LCD TV shipments in 2016, up 9.3pp on year. Because of the increase, demand for LEDs used in TV backlighting applications will rise and approximately 20-30% more LEDs will be used in 4K TVs over Full HD units, according to Digitimes Research.A variety of 4K TVs ranging from direct-type LEDs, HDR and Quantum Dot will push the demand and an increase in the overall TV size shipped will push up demand as well. Larger-size TVs sized 50-inch and above size are expected to have a bigger market share in 2016.Additionally, direct-type LED TVs are expected to hold a 65% proportion of LED TVs shipped in 2016 and 35% for edge-lit units, bringing steady demand for LEDs, said Digitimes Research.Meanwhile, Korea TV vendors are looking to use flip-chip technology in order to reduce the amount of LEDs needed and to save on costs, said Digitimes Research, adding that OLED TVs currently do not pose a threat to LED makers since OLED TVs are expected to make up less than 1% of overall TVs shipped in 2016.

Qualcomm, which announced plans to begin developing ARM-based chips for servers in November 2014, has started delivering server-use CPU samples to potential clients and has also set up a company in Guizhou, China to promote the CPUs exclusively. These moves signify Qualcomm's determination to foray into the server processor market, according to Digitimes Research.While the codename and model name of the forthcoming server chip are still not available, the company has revealed that the initial version will have 24 cores, and will have more in the future. The initial version has also been verified able to execute Virtual Machine (VM) software and to run Linux as well as other applications.Qualcomm says the chip can be used for Big-Data mining and machine learning. Most server-use CPUs available currently do not pay particular attention to machine learning. However, Qualcomm's intentions to support machine learning technology still remain unclear.While Qualcomm's technology and strategy for developing ARM-based server CPUs are similar to other industry forerunners, the company is focusing on establishing partner relationships, with companies including Xilinx and Mellanox Technologies, in order to step into the server market quickly, Digitimes Research commented.

Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has liberally interpreted remote medical care services by eliminating many restrictive definitions, allowing physiological measurements by smart wearable devices to be used as reference data by doctors. The move should promote the use of smart wearable devices in the Japan market, according to Digitimes Research.The eliminated restrictive definitions are, for example, that remote medical care should be in remote locations or offshore islands and applied to patients with nine listed diseases, Digitimes Research indicated.The liberal interpretation enables remote medical care to take off in the Japan market and as a result, many remote medical care services have been offered, including health care consulting platform Pocket Doctor and Port Medical which offers one-stop medical care combining remote clinic, diagnosis and prescriptions.However, marketability of smart wearable devices depends on convenience, price and effective physiological measurements.

November average retail price for 7W LED light bulbs (40W incandescent equivalents) in the China market decreased 7.4% sequentially to CNY27.6 (US$4.3), while 9W models (60W incandescent equivalents) saw a 9.2% drop to CNY33.5, according to Digitimes Research.Average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in the Japan market in November stood at JPY1,686 (US$14) and JPY2,632 respectively, the former slipping 0.6% sequentially and the latter growing 8.5%, Digitimes Research indicated.November average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets were: KRW9,934 (US$8.9, up 0.2% on month) and KRW12,207 (up 1.5%) in South Korea; US$18.70 (unchanged) and US$19.5 (up 3.7%) in the US; EUR7.30 (US$7.8, down 9.9%) and EUR10.70 (down 3.6%) in Europe.Philips 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and 60W-equivalent models for sale in the South Korea market had the highest average lumen-price ratios of 102.0lm/US$ and 125.9lm/US$ respectively in November. In terms of luminous efficiency, Toshiba 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and 60-equivalent models available in the Japan market had the highest average level of 83.7lm/W and 105.1lm/W respectively.

More mixed reality (MR) device makers including Sulon Technologies, Osterhout Design Group (ODG) and Magic Leap have attracted more software developers and investors while Microsoft has decided to postpone the launch of its Hololens to 2016, according to Digitimes Research.ODG, a leading smart glass designer and manufacturer, has managed to attract a number of application developers to join its Reticle Connect partner program and will continue to compete with Microsoft for potential developers in the future, Digitimes Research said.While the pace of development of virtual reality (VR) devices is currently faster than that of augmented reality (AR) devices, MR developers have been giving priority to building up IP portfolios for AR devices in view that the potential production value of AR products is likely to be higher than that of VR devices.The development of related AR technologies can create more varieties and multiple applications and therefore can result in higher production value.

The production value of Taiwan's IC design industry is expected to drop 1.8% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2015, due mainly to seasonal factors, according to Digitimes Research.Meanwhile, end-market demand particularly for smartphones has been weaker-than-expected in the fourth quarter, said Digitimes Research. Unfavorable market conditions are prompting device makers to continue adjusting their inventories, Digitimes Research indicated.Combined revenues of Taiwan-based IC design houses are forecast to reach NT$136.09 billion (US$4.15 billion) in the fourth quarter, down about 2% from the same period in 2014, Digitimes Research said.In all of 2015, the production value of Taiwan's IC design industry will total NT$522.2 billion, representing a 3.7% decrease from 2014 levels, Digitimes Research said.Looking forward, Taiwan's IC design industry will resume growth in 2016, Digitimes Research noted. Meanwhile, ASPs for LCD driver ICs are expected to improve as TVs and high-end smartphones will feature higher resolution displays.

The global top-5 notebook brand vendors and top-3 ODMs saw their shipments grow 18% and 12% on month, respectively, in November thanks to increased orders for the year-end holidays and emerging markets. Although demand for notebooks from Europe and North America is turning weak in December, shipments will only see limited declines because of upcoming Lunar New Year holiday demand from Asia.Among the top-5 brand vendors, Asustek Computer was the only player with on-month shipment growth, while Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Lenovo both suffered over 40% on-month drops. HP remained the largest brand vendor worldwide in November. Dell only had a slight on-month drop in the month, according to figures from Digitimes Research's monthly notebook report.The top-3 ODMs saw their shipments drop below eight million units in October, but grew 12% on month in November.Among the top-3 ODMs, Wistron performed the best with 14% on-month shipment growth thanks to increased orders from Lenovo and Dell, while Compal Electronics also enjoyed an on-month growth of 12% because of increased orders from HP and Lenovo.Although Acer reduced its orders for November with Quanta Computer, a dramatic increase in HP's orders brought about 10% shipment growth for Quanta in November.