Combined revenues of Taiwan's major foundries: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) are forecast to reach US$7.24 billion in the first quarter of 2016, representing decreases of 2.7% sequentially and 14.3% on year, according to Digitimes Research. The first quarter would mark the fifth consecutive quarter of sequential declines, said Digitimes Research. Inventory adjustments at most of the foundries' clients are already coming to an end with some even engaged in inventory replenishment, but end-market demand remains weak and sales of high-end smartphones have been less optimistic, Digitimes Research indicated. Overall, the foundries have seen their clients being cautious about placing orders in the first quarter. Utilization rates at TSMC, UMC and VIS will fall to 80.3% in the first quarter of 2016 from 83.5% in fourth-quarter 2015, Digitimes Research said. Combined production capacity at the foundries will expand to a record 7.715 million 8-inch equivalent wafers in the first quarter, but customers' conservative attitude will drag down utilization rates. Digitimes Research forecast that combined revenues of TSMC, UMC and VIS will come to US$32.91 billion in 2016, up 3.2% from US$31.88 billion in 2015.

Observing smartphone brand vendors' exhibitions at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016, Digitimes Research found that the smartphone market is moving toward a new development direction. Vendors including Korea- and Japan-based players, are no longer pushing specifications and performance, but instead adding new applications such as virtual reality (VR) functionality or modularized parts to differentiate their products from competitors'.Samsung Electronics showcased a new device for the VR market, the Gear 360 panoramic camera, and will work with Facebook and Oculus to develop light VR and social VR applications. Meanwhile, LG Electronics G5's modularized design is an example for Google's Project Ara, Digitimes Research's report noted.High-end models are increasingly failing to pull in consumers, and entry-level to mid-range models' contribution to market growth is gradually increasing. Some vendors have started reducing the differences between their entry-level to mid-range models and high-end ones to improve the entry-level to mid-range models' price-performance ratio. LG has recently started adopting dual-lens and stylus features, which were originally seen only in high-end products, into its entry-level to mid-range smartphones.Sony's mainstream Xperia X and flagship Xperia X Performance smartphones also have only small differences in specifications.Meanwhile, China-based vendors that focus mainly on overseas markets, and which face increasing competition from other China-based players and regional brand vendors, are becoming more aggressive on product development. TCL is pushing smartphones with VR functionality and has achieved faster progress than other competitors. Gionee has adopted pressure sensors to present functionality similar to Apple iPhone's Force Touch.

Global LED lighting market value in 2016 will reach an estimated US$34.64 billion, accounting for 31.3% of total lighting market value, rising 4.1pp on year, according to Digitimes Research.In terms of global market value, LED light bulbs will account for 28.2% of all types of light bulbs (penetration) in 2016 and the penetration will be 32.8% for LED projection lamps, and 17.3% for LED light tubes, Digitimes Research indicated.52.3% of LED light tubes in 2016 will have luminous efficiency of 100lm/W or above, while average retail pricing for a 4-foot T8 LED light tube will drop 37.6% on year to US$11.8. Consequently, there will be 693 million LED light tubes shipped globally in 2016, hiking 45.9% on year.LED projection lamps are mainly used in retail, hospitals, exhibition centers, transportation and indoor public spaces. There will be 1.476 billion LED projection lamps shipped globally in 2016, growing 42.6% on year.There will be 10.043 million LED street lamps installed globally in 2016, increasing 13.5% on year.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a major trend, and one of the most popular industry models for IoT implementation today is to combine cloud computing and big data analytics technology to develop application-specific solutions. But the big question is how to accelerate the development of such vertical IoT applications?Businesses across different fields hope IoT can accelerate the expansion of different vertical applications. Many businesses, although eager about IoT development, still operate on a traditional, closed architectural approach, and are bounded by the limits of their products, technology, and industry knowledge. As such, most businesses struggle to respond effectively to the rapid market change, stagnating the overall market transition.Alex Perng, General Manager of NEXCOM's IoT Business Unit, with years of experience engaging in the IoT field, has recognized on how large the scale is for IoT. Perng states, "IoT involves the integration of various technologies and domain knowledge across industries. Without cross-industry collaboration, the development of IoT applications will be limited in its scope and reach. Therefore, breaking through the limitations and stalled situation requires an open collaborative approach whereby people together could innovate through the power of open innovation, promoting self-development and seeding the growth of IoT implementation."Innovate Through the Power of Open CommunityPerng believes that the major prerequisite for applying open innovation in practice is to build a cloud-based open community environment in which participants with different expertise and vertical industry knowledge can share resources and leverage the different development tools from each other. Innovators could come together in the community and exchange innovative ideas and creative knowledge to effectively find appropriate products or solutions that fill the gaps of each others' shortcomings.For example, when new startups develop a solution suite for a rather specific, niche application, the open community can serve as a platform to seek out cross-industry partners to help accelerate product designs from the proof of concept (PoC) phase into commercialization. Think of it like Lego pieces that stack up on each other to complete a final product, a piece of valuable tool that solution seekers can use to develop mid- to large-scale applications and expand business opportunities.In the era of makers, there is no lack of aspiring creators. But few are reliable and high-quality supply chains that provide the right product or component. Also creators have encountered technical barriers that further delay development progress. A service-based open platform can offer a solution to these development challenges in two ways. First, it can function as a marketplace that provides a complete supply chain of cross-industry applications, products, components and solutions, assisting creators to quickly obtain the required resources to focus on application development. Second, it can serve as the LinkedIn platform of the IoT world, allowing creators from different fields to interact and exchange ideas and resources to solve design uncertainties and trigger new inspirations.Free Tools and Source Codes to Shorten DevelopmentIn addition, through contributions from members in the open IoT community, various kinds of free tools and source codes are readily available to promote member participation and overcome development obstacles. Perng explains, "IoT applications rely on various connected end devices. To this end, NEXCOM has developed the NEXCOM IoT Studio software, which is an open source configuration tool which provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI). Based on a drag-and-drop design, NEXCOM IoT Studio offers a simple way to map frontend and backend connections of IoT devices, allowing developers to focus efforts on applications."NEXCOM looks forward to an open IoT community and offers NEXCOM IoT Studio free of charge. Additional NexROBO robot control simulation software, EtherCAT master software and ToGazer video conferencing software are also available on an open platform for users to download.NexROBO can assist the application development of smart robots, freeing up the time required for developing motor drives and controllers for laboratory testing and the time to code motor control programs. It helps familiarize developers with robot operating conditions and allows them to focus on algorithm design. ToGazer, on the other hand, is a WebRTC-based video conferencing tool that allows users to conduct long-distance, multi-session conferences through web browsers. It includes network video recorder (NVR) functionality for archiving conference sessions. ToGazer can also be used in other applications such as video surveillance and image analytics.Overall, NEXCOM believes that the application of IoT is in a flourishing phase and is rapidly shaping into a mature industry. And by adopting the principles of the sharing economy; making relevant software tools freely available to download through an open platform backed by a complete supply chain management and online marketplace, developers and makers alike can tap into a pool of collective wisdom and expertise to further accelerate IoT growth. To download free software or exchange knowledge and ideas, please visit http://www.alliotcloud.com/.About NEXCOMFounded in 1992, NEXCOM integrates its capabilities and operates six global businesses, which are IoT Automation Solutions, Intelligent Digital Security, Internet of Things, Interactive Signage Platform, Mobile Computing Solutions, and Network and Communication Solutions. NEXCOM serves its customers worldwide through its subsidiaries in five major industrial countries. Under the IoT megatrend, NEXCOM expands its offerings with solutions in emerging applications including IoT, robot, connected cars, Industry 4.0, and industrial security. http://www.nexcom.com/Accelerating the development of IoT applications in vertical markets requires an open collaborative approach whereby people together could innovate through the power of open innovation to promote self-development.

Worldwide TD/FD-LTE network standards and related supply chains are turning mature, and telecom carriers have been focusing on expanding their 4G network coverage. Despite the fact the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 attracted over 100,000 visitors, the event did not showcase many new network communication innovations or any major breakthroughs in communication technology or concepts.Digitimes Research believes MWC 2016's weak presentation showed that the market has already entered the post-4G mobile broadband generation and network re-optimization and emerging business opportunities have become the key concepts and consensus between network players for achieving results in 2016.Re-optimization of 4G networks has become a hot topic for network technology and application developers. During the post-4G mobile broadband generation, to go faster and wider are two major directions for optimization. To achieve faster networks, integrating licensed spectra such as LAA/LWA/LTE-U with non-licensed spectra such as Wi-Fi and using LTE-A Pro technology such as Massive MIMO/QAM are two main methods. As for wider networks achieving more coverage, pushing Smallcell setups and LPWAN network technology are key, especially NB-IoT technology, a key technology developed based on cellular IoT applications under LPWAN.5G networks are still at the initial stage of standards setting, but many developers still showcased 5G product prototypes, and some 5G technologies such as mmWave during MWC. Many large network communication equipment makers and telecom carriers also demonstrated simulated 5G applications.Although the Internet of Things (IoT) for vehicles or smart homes are not new concepts, many players showcased related products, and the only difference between them was the back-end data analysis at the cloud computing side, not hardware specifications.

Following significant drops both on month and on year in January, worldwide notebook shipments remained weak in February, growing only 2% sequentially for the top-five brand vendors together and 1% sequentially for the top-three notebook ODMs, according to Digitimes Research.Despite a significant shipment decline in January because of high inventory level, Hewlett-Packard (HP) still managed to reach its shipment goal for the fiscal first-quarter 2016 ended on January 31. HP then recorded strong growth in February and returned as the largest vendor worldwide, Digitimes Research's report noted.Although Lenovo had strong shipment performance in January, its shipments in February were lower than those for Dell, who achieved growth in the month thanks to orders for Windows 10-based enterprise notebooks.Asustek Computer and Acer both saw on-month shipment drops in February because of seasonal factors.As for the top-3 ODMs, Compal Electronics achieved an on-month growth of 10% in February, the best performance among the three. Quanta Computer had an on-month decline in February with one of its major clients, Toshiba, gradually leaving the consumer notebook market, and another, Acer, performing weaker than expected. Wistron's February shipments were flat on month. The three ODMs together had an on-year decline of 12% in February, which was a big improvement compared to the January's on-year drop of 30%.

While commercial operations of 4G mobile communication services in Latin America, such as Brazil, Puerto Rico and Uruguay, began as early as 2011, 4G development has been progressing slowly, and there were only 32 million 4G subscribers in 2015, accounting for only 4.5% of all mobile communication users, according to Digitimes Research.As of mid-2015, 56 mobile telecom carriers in 17 countries in Latin America had started 4G commercial operations, covering 89% of total population, and slightly over 50% of the 4G subscribers were in Brazil, Digitimes Research indicated. In 2015, however, 2G and WCDMA/HSPA (3G) subscribers in Latin America took up 49.5% and 45.1%, respectively, of all mobile communication users.The slow 4G development in Latin America is because insufficient total bandwidth available for 4G operation, especially in 700MHz frequency band units, as well as lower smartphone penetration than the global average. During 2009-2015, Latin American countries released frequency band units with total bandwidth of 1,614MHz for 4G operation, with 2.6GHz band units accounting for 29.1% of total bandwidth, AWS (advanced wireless services, 1,710-1,755MHz for upload and 2,110-2,155MHz for download) band units for 52.7% and 700MHz band units, which have the largest spatial coverage in physical property, for only 18.2%.In 2016, the total number of 4G subscribers in Latin America will grow to 50 million, taking up only 7% of all mobile communication users, while the proportion for 3G will exceed 50%.

There were an estimated 13.307 million AIO (all-in-one) PCs shipped globally in 2015, slipping 5% on year. Shipments in 2016 will reach 12.892 million units, according to Digitimes Research.Lenovo was the largest vendor accounting for 28.8% of shipments, followed by Apple with 27.8%, Hewlett-Packard 18.5%, Dell 11.3%, Acer 3%, and Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International each with 2.3%, Digitimes Research indicated.Among Taiwan-based ODMs/OEMs, Quanta Computer was the largest accounting for 36.7% of shipments, TPV-Inventa Technology for 17.8%, Wistron 14.6%, Pegatron 13.8%, Compal Electronics 6.8% and Foxconn Electronics 2.9%.

Observing the OTT/TV market in February, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed to make the set-top box (STB) market more open, allowing consumer electronics players to improve their competitiveness, while Korea-based TV brand vendors are shifting their focuses away from the 3D TV market.FCC tried to open the STB market previously with CableCard, but do not achieve solid results. This time, the FCC is demanding cable service providers open up their channel information to allow consumer electronic players to develop TVs or STBs that can display channel listings from different service providers.With the move, consumer electronics players will be able to enhance their competitiveness with a better user interface or added functions, and give consumers cheaper and better product choices. However, Digitimes Research expects cable service providers to boycott the proposal using technical methods.At the same time, Korea-based LCD brand vendors reportedly are moving their focuses away from the 3D TV market in 2016. Digitimes Research believes Samsung will continue to keep 3D technology in its LCD TVs, but will no longer provide expensive 3D glasses to consumers since Samsung's Shutter Glass 3D technology only added a little cost.LG Technology uses Pattern Retarder technology for 3D effects and the larger the panel, the higher the cost. Adding 3D into its high-end models could put related models at a disadvantage against competitors, but for small-size models, the technology may benefit the Korea-based vendor, Digitimes Research noted.

Observing China's mobile market in 2016, Digitimes Research expects smartphone AP price competition to grow fiercer, while Qualcomm and MediaTek will continue to push Internet of Things (IoT) to seek new business opportunities.Second- and third-tier AP suppliers are expected to experience a wave of mergers and acquisitions as smartphone demand continues to weaken. As for 5G network roll-outs in China, Tsinghua Unigroup's lineup in the semiconductor industry supply chain and Huawei, which has been chosen by the China government as the pioneer of 5G network standards, have both been certified to operate 5G network technologies in outdoor areas.Digitimes Research found that China's smartphone market was able to maintain strong shipment growth in 2015 mainly due to handset replacement due to 4G LTE network deployments. In the third quarter of 2015, China's 4G handsets already account for 87% of the country's overall handset shipments, growing significantly by 42pp from the same period a year ago.