Ultra HD TV shipments are expected to reach roughly 12.8 million in 2014 and will reach 68.2 million by 2017, according to Digitimes Research.Ultra HD TV panel pricing is continuing to drop to Full HD TV panel prices while TV chip costs are also continuing to drop, which will be major factors in TV vendors' decisions to promote Ultra HD TV products.More than half of the Ultra HD TVs shipped throughout 2016 are expected to go to the China market where low-priced units are expected to drive most of the demand.Ultra HD TV panel shipments meanwhile are expected to reach 17.83 million units in 2014, up 475% on year, according to Digitimes Research.The average Ultra HD TV panel size shipped in 2014 is expected to be 50.8-inch, while the average-size LCD TV panel is expected to be 39.8-inch.Taiwan makers have been responsible for most Ultra HD TV panel shipments in the past but Samsung Display and LG Display are expected to hold almost a 40% share in 2014.Ultra HD TV panel shipments are expected to reach 72.5 million in 2017, with most 50-inch and above size TVs expected to be Ultra HD, said Digitimes Research.Digitimes Research also said that OLED TVs are expected to trail behind Ultra HD TV shipments throughout 2017 as OLED TV material costs are expected to remain high.

With more data center services and cloud solutions have been created on the way, experts are concerned that electricity consumption inside the massive data centers that power the internet and different enterprise server applications. In fact, a survey report of data centers today highlighted it consumes about 2% of the world's electricity production, and increased 7% in 2013 compared to 2012. Data center owners and operators have faced increasing electricity bills and taxes while increasing hardware density and, at the same time, maintain or improve the user experience.In recent years, several server solution providers have worked to create a new 64-bit ARM-based single chip solution driven by lowed power consumption and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) not unlike the one in current Smartphone. Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed fabless semiconductor company producing computing and connectivity IC chips, has built brand new flagship server chips X-Gene product lines and the ecosystem. It has made it clear they intend to watch the market developed formany years and witnessed not only how data center demands has developed, but also how companies compete amid increased competition in current hyperscale challenges.X-Gene chips promise to significantly reduce the power consumed by the modern server, and that's certainly an attractive prospect for Facebook and other cloud service companies that now run their web services atop tens of thousands of servers.To understand how the server industry is developing in the ARM-based 64-bit sector, Digitimes invites Dr. Paramesh Gopi, the CEO of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, to learn how the company is reacting to such developments and what kind of strategies are helping the company maintain a competitive edge and his outlook for the company.Q: What are the major products or solutions in 2014?A: Our major launch this year is X-Gene, which is the product of our core competencies of 1) brawny 64-bit server processor design, 2) high-speed mixed-signal I/O heritage, 3) broad, fast memory IP, and 4) our ability to integrate all of the above on a single piece of silicon. We also have a family of Connectivity products named X-Weave, that are ideally suited to address the growing need for high-speed, high-reliability communication within and between data centers.Q: From solution point of view, what would be the future trends of data center industry? Why and how things going for the direction?A: First, we see continued growth of the cloud. There will be multiple drivers of this growth: new software applications, more streaming video, more mobile services, more connected devices, i.e., the internet of things, and more enterprise services migrating to cloud. Some of the drivers may emerge more quickly or more strongly than others, but given demand coming from multiple directions, we see demand for cloud services only going up.Second, we see a trend toward driving down server infrastructure costs. We have observed this trend for some time, and we expect it to continue. Innovative new thinking and highly disruptive technologies such as X-Gene will enable this. Specifically, we expect to see higher densities, lower total cost of ownership, and an overall decline in the growth rate on energy consumption by data centers with the adoption of new technologies, like X-Gene.We see software-driven equipment malleability (i.e., software-based reallocation of computing, networking, and storage resources), lower cost open hardware following the massive adoption of open software, and a growing market for ODMs as demand from the cloud continues to drive the white box opportunity, which is particularly relevant in Taiwan.Q: What are the new products or solutions you are going to demonstrate in COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2014 this year? Can you share your views about the business outlook for 2014?A: We are very excited and proud to be demonstrating the great strides we've made in terms of our progress relating to production silicon and the ecosystem development this year at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2014. We will be showcasing the following:The ARMv8 software ecosystem has come a long way over the last several years and now enjoys the full commitment of leading providers Microsoft, Red Hat, Canonical, Oracle and Citrix, along with open source stalwarts OpenStack, OpenJDK, KVM and others.Applied Micro is proud to be participating with Canonical on their Ubuntu OpenStack Interoperability Lab. OIL makes it easier for ecosystem partners like Applied Micro to assure the compatibility of our category-defining X-Gene Server of a Chip with the world's leading open cloud platform.Applied Micro and Canonical will also show Ubuntu 14.04LTS running on a 14U rack composed of 1U X-Gene Servers, using Juju, MAAS and charms to orchestrate applications, databases and services. This demonstration will provide proof that Applied Micro's X-Gene, the first (and in all likelihood the only) ARMv8 Server on a Chip product to launch in 2014, will be supported by the dominant open source cloud software framework - on an equal footing with x86-64 and POWER architectures.We have also invited several of our ODM partners to showcase their new and developing products based on X-Gene.Q: Besides COMPUTEX, is there any marketing or product promotion plans in this year?A: Certainly. One that I would highlight in the near-term is the International Supercomputing Conference, or ISC, later this month. Many people might not assume that an ARM-based server processor would be an obvious fit for the high performance market, but the interest and success we're seeing from the high performance community is a testament to the performance of our custom cores and the integrated high-performance analog and mixed signal I/O that X-Gene brings to the market. We are very excited about the breadth of applications for which X-Gene is uniquely suited.It's also quite reasonable to assume that there will be a campaign, perhaps in conjunction with customers and/or ecosystem partners to highlight availability of production units when the timing is appropriate later this year.Q: Is there a successful story sharing to us about your customers to use your products or solutions?A: We have nearly one hundred formal evaluation and use agreements signed by customers, potential customers, ecosystem partners, and the like. Since we have been sampling silicon for over a year now, there has been a tremendous amount of interest and effort in working on and evaluating X-Gene. I can tell you, in no uncertain terms, people are amazed by 1) the total cost of ownership, or TCO savings, 2) the high performance / low-power profile, 3) the range of applications X-Gene addresses, 4) the ease and speed of which software can be ported to X-Gene, and 5) our ability to deliver on what we promised.Q: Any message for Global IT Industry?A: The world has changed. The advent of Open Source, or LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) has set in motion an irreversible trend. No longer is there a need or justification for architectural monopolies and duopolies. In X-Gene we have created not just a viable alternative, but we have, in many ways created a superior product from a TCO and systems perspective.Dr. Paramesh Gopi, CEO of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation

With the IT market shifting from PCs to mobile devices, there has been an increased appetite for support for Wi-Fi and wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and near field communication (NFC). Mobile users are not only looking at emails and texting though; mobile devices are increasingly being used as a viewing device for HD content, which has placed an increased strain on bandwidth. Moreover, the market is seeing more and more new solutions that are being enabled by low-power wireless, such as wearables.Leading up to Computex, Digitimes spoke with Rahul Patel, vice president for Broadcom's Mobile and Wireless Group, to gain more insight into how Wi-Fi and low power Bluetooth NFC are coming to the forefront in the market.Q: Can you give us an update on Broadcom's rollout of 802.11ac over the last year?A: Last year at Computex we said Broadcom's 5th generation Wi-Fi (802.11ac) would be quickly adopted. Since then 802.11ac adoption has skyrocketed. It can now be found in all types of products ranging from routers, PCs and TVs while also being in mobile phones in a big way. Broadcom is looking at unit volume shipments totaling in the hundreds of millions of units. There is a fast adoption of 11ac across multiple market segments and that kind of highlights one of the biggest challenges in the Wi-Fi market.Q: What do you mean?A: If you look at the number of products that utilize Wi-Fi, you are seeing a lot more devices coming into the home that depend on personal home networks. Wi-Fi is being extended to things like televisions, music players and IoT (Internet of Things) devices. And when it comes to the individual user, it used to be that everyone had maybe one device but with the proliferation of tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices we are now seeing 2-3 devices per person. So for a family of four you are looking at more than 10 devices that need Wi-Fi support. We see this as being a problem because the network has to scale and provide appropriate bandwidth for the multiple devices and at multiple distances. To address these challenges in an interesting way, what we did was come up with a new platform earlier this year that we call 5G Wi-Fi XStream.Wi-Fi XStream is a six stream 802.11ac MIMO platform for home networks that can run up to 50% faster than MU-MIMO routers and gateways. What Wi-Fi XStream does is create an environment where all the high priority traffic on 5GHz in 802.11ac will move to one channel of the 5GHz frequency band while lesser priority traffic will simultaneously be moved to other 5GHz channels. The lowest priority traffic that does not have 5GHZ support can be shifted to the 2.4GHz band. So now all of a sudden you have the ability to support Wi-Fi data rates up to 3.2Gbit - or greater than 2Gbit per second of TCP/IP - without having legacy clients (or devices that are shipping today) needing to support multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). Broadcom is trying to address the problem of the home network by addressing the situation based on the clients that are there today by provisioning this new platform Wi-Fi XStream.So, for example, if you have two MacBooks talking to your 802.11ac 3x3 router, your bandwidth is going to get split down the middle between the two clients. And if you have more clients, such as phones, smartwatches and TVs, the bandwidth is going to get split even more. With 5G Wi-Fi XStream, the high priority client, say the one that is receiving streamed video will get the one channel and will get maximum bandwidth, while the lesser priority traffic will move to other channels in the 5GHz band.Broadcom is solving three big problems here. One is the quality of service (QoS) problem which is effectively taken care of by making sure 802.11ac devices in the home are not sharing with slower Wi-Fi devices, so users are getting a better quality of service and better video experience in the home. We are also addressing the bandwidth problem by making a lot more bandwidth available on the network, up to 3.2Gbit per second. There is no other router in the market today that can provide this much Wi-Fi capacity. And the third thing we address is the problem of range. The clients that need the furthest range will have the ability to choose between one of two channels which would be less congested and would be supporting the furthest reach versus a client that is stuck with one channel operation that is shared between multiple clients. These three issues are becoming a bigger and bigger problem for previous generation routers because there are so many more clients needing support in the home.Q: What is the expected rollout for 5G Wi-Fi XStream routers?A: Broadcom will enter into production in the second quarter and customers all over the world engaging on the platform with shipments in the second half of the year, or shortly thereafter. So we expect Taiwan customers to be launching a number of products during Computex.Q: What kind of adoption rates do you expect?A: Products will be slated for the premium category of the market initially but given that the growing appetite for Wi-Fi in the home and the desire for the market for increased performance in this segment, I expect demand to be much better than we saw for premium routers last year.Q: you spoke about increased Internet of Things devices. I know that that Broadcom has what you call WICED (pronounced as wicked; Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices) for adding wireless connectivity to embedded devices. Can you update us on that platform?A: WICED is a fully integrated software/hardware design kit that can be used to quickly design and integrate wireless into a system for production and shipments. We have WICED Wi-Fi and we also have WICED Smart, which uses a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) module along with Broadcom software SDK.WICED is shipping to many ODM partners in Taiwan. We are seeing tremendous adoption because we make it easy for our partners; we don't require a lot of stringent paperwork to use WICED. It's simply available on Broadcom's website or through our channel partners' websites and we have seen thousands of SDKs and HDKs downloaded and purchased by customers.Q: What are customers doing with WICED?A: We have seen WICED-based designs ranging from garage door openers to music players. Things you see in your day-to-day life can utilize WICED, from hearing aids to lighting solutions. We also recently announced our Bluetooth SoC (BCM20737) for WICED Smart implementations, which will address the need for advanced security to ensure customer privacy. For example, this SoC can deliver on-chip advanced security to prevent hacking of sensitive information in areas such as medical data for IoT in wearable devices. We also added some new software features like support for iBeacon technology for better device detection and identity.So if you look at wearables, such as the Samsung Gear Fit and Samsung Galaxy Gear Fit, these products have Broadcom BLE functionality in them as well. This means you can monitor your heart rate, your pulse rate, the number of the steps you take - basically monitor your health - and quickly transfer the data to the cloud so that the right people can look at the data and make some assessments about your health. Those are some of the big benefits we foresee.BLE is also going to be used for proximity detection. If you are walking in a building and you want directions, BLE is going to help guide you in the right direction because of the radio technology. And these are all going to be low power devices, so they can also be used in applications that are tied to security. In your home, in your door drops, in your cameras - all of these areas offer potential usage scenarios for these devices.Q: Can you talk a little about the wireless charging?A: Let's take for example the protocol of A4WP Resonance. Under this protocol, a device would have to signal a certain control to the battery or the power unit (PMU) where the source of the charge is going to come from. For example, is it going to charge the battery by using wireless charging or will the charge come from plugging the device in the wall? BLE is the wireless connectivity that is going to drive the protocol to control the source of the charging so the battery gets the appropriate charge. You need to wirelessly control the source and communicate back to the charger where the source is going to be from. BLE gives you the ability to wirelessly talk to the transmitter pad or A4WPn and give information concerning whether the device needs to be charged, is fully charged, or how much charging it needs. All that information is communicated through BLE.So if you are wearing a device, you can put your hand on the table and maybe underneath the table there will be a wireless charging pad and your device would be charged automatically. Or at night when you get into bed, you simply put your IoT device on the nightstand where a charging pad is and in the morning it is fully charged. Charging will not compromise the user experience. You don't need to remember to charge or worry that you forgot to charge.Q: What kinds of engagement are you seeing?A: in terms of applications, we are seeing engagement from companies like Samsung, but we are also seeing interest from Taiwan ODMs. Taiwan firms have a big advantage because they know how to manufacture, they know how to design and they are very familiar with Bluetooth. They have been designing with Bluetooth for over a decade, so we expect to see a huge uptick in IoT and wearables from Taiwan ODMs and from China players as well.The key to success will be that companies understand that wearables need to deliver a lot from a productivity point of view. Devices will need to provide solutions that can give you things like the status of your health, or have the ability to guide you indoors if you are lost, or have the ability to receive text messages or have some form of text communicated directly on your wristwatch, maybe even a device that helps you fill out forms.Rahul Patel, VP and general manager, wireless connectivity combo, Mobile and Wireless GroupPhoto: Company

Silicon Image is a semiconductor IP company whose expertise is connecting boxes to displays. The company develops semiconductor IP based on industry standards it has helped develop. For example, it is one of the inventors of HDMI, DVI technology (in association with the Digital Display Working Group) and also the inventor and promoter of the MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) standard. The company is also in the wireless space connecting devices, particularly for wireless video.Digitimes had the opportunity to speak with David Kuo, senior director of marketing, mobile devices at Silicon Image just before Computex. Below are excerpts of his comments.On the latest advancements in technical standards for connectivityOur HDMI technology has been used to connect set top boxes (STB) or Blu-ray players to big screen TVs for over 10 years and at Computex we expect that this technology will be everywhere. For example 4K (Ultra HD) video is a hot trend in the video market and the connectivity support for that is based on the HDMI 2.0 specification released at the end of last year. You will see a lot of companies, including us, talking about the increased bandwidth of HDMI 2.0 (up to 18Gbps) and showing off digital TVs with resolution of 4K at 30Hz (4K30) and 4K at 60Hz (4K60) .HDMI is important in the CE space and in the mobile space we expect that MHL will be the key connectivity technology. The latest development, MHL 3.0, was released earlier this year and it supports connectivity for 4K video (2160p30), a simultaneous high-speed data channel, power charging for up to 10W and the latest HDCP 2.2 content protection. This is going to be big at Computex.In addition, more and more people want the convenience of wireless technology, so we have developed a technology called wireless HD that allows users to support 1080p video without a cable.MHL 3.0 and multimediaAs smartphones and tablets become more powerful, they have the potential to serve as a gaming platform, a multimedia platform and a computing platform. The issue the device makers have is that all that power and capability inside the phone is trapped by the 5-inch display.With MHL, users are able to connect mobile devices to larger screens to provide a whole new experience. Previously, MHL supported only 1080p60 but at Computex this year we will be showing (MHL 3.0) 4K resolutions in products such as phones, tablets and TVs.These developments are based on the fact users are increasingly using their phones as multimedia devices. They download movie content and they capture video themselves at higher resolutions, up to 4K. They want to see that on the big screen and with MHL they can. Smartphones also feature more powerful GPUs, allowing users to play games just like on a gaming console. These users want to be connected a big screen.MHL 3.0 and productivityIf you look at the capability of the phone today compared to that of the PC just a few years ago, we are seeing implementations where the mobile phone can be used as a productivity device. One of the key features of MHL 3.0 is that it incorporates a high-speed data channel so you can combine a video link and a data link into a single link technology that allows you to support 4k video and USB 2.0 functionality at the same time. Previously it was an either/or equation with support for display or USB.So now, a device OEM can develop a mobile device that comes with a docking station. That docking station can have video output to a video monitor. It could also connect to a keyboard and mouse. With USB, storage devices can also be connected and now you have a fully functional PC.The other key aspect is that while the mobile device is connected to the plugged in hub, there will be output power flowing back down and charging the battery of the device.A good example of the potential there is shown with MediaTek's Smartbook concept. It looks like a smartphone connected to an ultrabook but it's not really an ultrabook because it has no computing capabilities. It's just a display, with a keyboard and a battery, and of course with an MHL input. The smartphone can use the notebook clamshell as the docking station and deliver PC productivity.Automotive is another area. Just about every OEM involved with cars is working on a strategy of how to incorporate the car infotainment experience with mobile devices. We are seeing a lot of automotive manufacturers excited by MHL in a lot of phones and video. Consumers want to connect phones to in-dash units or rear seat displays.Importance of MHL supportIf you look at the adoption rate of MHL, there are more than half a billion devices combined out there in the marketplace that support MHL. Samsung and Sony have their flagship products supporting MHL. There is also a wide ecosystem of phones, tablets and PCs that support MHL.Connecting two MHL-supported devices is as simple as using a passive cable but there are plenty of users out there viewing HD video on their TVs by connecting MHL-supported smartphones to the HDMI port in the TV using a converter adapter. But a lot of OEMs see the benefits of supporting MHLs in their displays, as more multimedia content is being viewed from mobile devices. If both devices have MHL support, then the mobile device battery would be charged by the display while they are connected, which makes sense if a two-hour movie is being viewed.The role of wireless videoWireless HD is also a standard and allows a display to present content from a mobile device at 1080p60. We'll be displaying the technology with various products accessories. Sony has seen the potential of Wireless HD and has come out with personal 3D head display based on wireless HD.Wireless HD technology supports the same type of usage models as any other video link using cables but provides the flexibility of wireless. The technology also consumes power at 400mw in 1080p60, which is much better than Wi-Fi.David Kuo, senior director of marketing, mobile devices at Silicon Image Photo: CompanySony HMZ-T3W Personal 3D ViewerSony HMZ-T3 Display

With the LED chipmakers expanding production capacities to meet growing demand for lighting applications, 186-228 MOCVD sets will be shipped globally in 2014, rising 25.7-54.1% on year, according to Digitimes Research.China will account for 63% of the shipments, Japan 14%, Taiwan 10%, the US 6%, Europe 5% and other markets 2%, Digitimes Research indicated. China-based San'an Optoelectronics and HC SemiTek will add 100 and 42 MOCVD sets, respectively in 2014, the largest order volumes among LED makers worldwide.US-based Veeco Instruments will be the dominant supplier accounting for 61.4% of the shipments, followed by Germany-based Aixtron SE with 30.6%, with the remaining 8% coming from Japan- and China-based suppliers.

In April 2014, Google released modular design kits, held its first developer conference, as well as made commitments to release more specifications and a software roadmap for its Project Ara, and the global handset industry began to believe that Google is serious about the modularization of mobile phones, according to Digitimes Research. Google has now completed measurement specifications for the framework for mini- and medium-size modular handsets and will decide the framework for large-size handsets later. Google's modular phones target all segments of the handset industry, including high-end smartphones as well as entry-level to mid-range feature phone segments. Google is expected to engage in sales of basic frameworks but will leave hardware makers to design functional modules subject to compatibility validation by Google. The modular phones will then be sold through Google's online stores as well as other online shops. If realized, the modularization will overturn the ecosystem of the current handset hardware industry. However, the development of modular phones still faces some challenges, including added thickness, increased material costs, more complicated designs and validation processes, commented Digitimes Research.

Ultra HD TV panel shipments are expected to reach 17.83 million units in 2014, up 475% on year, according to Digitimes Research.The average Ultra HD TV panel size shipped in 2014 is expected to be 50.8-inch, while the average-size LCD TV panel is expected to be 39.8-inch.Taiwan makers have been responsible for most Ultra HD TV panel shipments in the past but Samsung Display and LG Display are expected to hold almost a 40% share in 2014.Ultra HD TV panel shipments are expected to reach 72.5 million in 2017, with most 50-inch and above size TVs expected to be Ultra HD, added Digitimes Research.

The USB 3.1 standard has significantly raised the transmission speed to 10Gbps, up from the 5Gbps for USB 3.0, but the technology will still struggle to replace HDMI and Thunderbolt for Ultra HD image transmissions, according to Digitimes Research.Following the announcement of USB 3.1 technological standards in July 2013, IC design houses are now expected to begin rolling out engineering samples of USB 3.1 host controller and peripheral chips in the second half of 2014 for evaluation by system providers, Digitimes Research noted.However, since the transmission of Ultra HD images requires a transmission speed of 12Gbps, the 10Gbps USB 3.1 can only support Ultra HD video at half vertical refresh rates, said Digitimes Research.Additionally, HDMI 2.0 will upgrade speeds to 18Gbps from the previous 10.2Gbps, while Thunderbolt 2 will also ramp speeds from the previous 10Gbps to 20Gbps. Both HDMI 2.0 and Thunderbolt 2 will fully support Ultra HD transmissions, with their markets unaffected by the roll-out of USB 3.1 technology, commented Digitimes Research.

Touch panel makers in Greater China are focused on thin-film and OGS products in 2014, according to Digitimes Research.TPK is currently focused on the production of nano silverwire touch technology for use in entry-level smartphones in China while GIS is developing similar technology for Nokia.Additionally, Young Fast Optoelectronics is now focusing on OGS solutions after struggling with G1F advancements in the market.O-Film and Truly Optoelectronics meanwhile are focusing on both thin-film and OGS solutions to meet entry-level and mid-range smartphone demand in China.OGS and thin-film solutions are used for thin-type smartphones, which shows that market demand in 2014 is all pointing towards lighter and thinner solutions, added Digitimes Research.

Taiwan makers' shipments of small- to medium-size TFT LCD panels are expected to reach 337 million in the second quarter of 2014, up 12% on quarter but down 6.8% on year, according to Digitimes Research.The on-quarter increase comes amid demand for PND and vehicle applications while the on-year decline will largely be influenced from losing entry-level and mid-range handset panel shipments to makers in China and Japan.The makers' shipments for portable DVD and tablets will see 3.8% and 1.9% declines, respectively, while vehicle and PND shipments will increase 21.9% and 16.9%.Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), Innolux and HannStar Display are expected to be the three main suppliers during the period, added Digitimes Research.