Digital products are rapidly penetrating into the modern lifestyle, bringing various forms of convenience, but in a sense also increasing the distance between people because even when people are together, they are often respectively sliding their fingers on the mobile phones' touchscreens with their heads lowered. Behind our highly-efficient lifestyles, is there a hidden crisis of alienation between people? Elo Touch Solutions (Elo Touch Solutions Taiwan, hereinafter referred to as Elo) OEM Business Division Vice President Niklas Fallgren remarked during Computex that with touch-controlled products becoming more user-friendly, digital technologies will help tighten relationships between people and strengthen interaction between people as well. Very soon, we will see how touch-controlled products transform the face of traditional industries.According to Fallgren, Elo has been developing touch solutions for over 40 years. Before smartphones became widespread, touch technologies were already being applied in areas such as industrial automation and transportation logistics. With the rise of touch-controlled consumer products, high-end commercial touch-screen products are accelerating their penetration into traditional service industries, and consumers are experiencing the benefits of upgraded services in the banking, medical, healthcare, hotel and retail industries.Many people believe that the rise of the Internet will result in the decline of traditional industries. For example, online stores are backed up by rich online resources and it is extremely convenient for consumers to communicate with customer service personnel online. On the other hand, brick-and-mortar sales channels are restricted by the slow passing of information in traditional marketing models, and seem to be no match for the speed and convenience of online price comparisons. Furthermore, professional sales personnel are hard to find and even harder to keep. They require a great deal of training, which takes a long time. The quality of services is difficult to control, exposing these brick-and-mortar stores to threats from online stores. Fallgren, on the other hand, thinks that traditional industries should turn more active and use digital technologies to their advantage. Sales personnel should be given tablet computers that are connected to the Internet, giving them the ability to quickly obtain online information. That will bring the online shopping experience to brick-and-mortar channels, allowing further interaction and enhancing service quality.Fallgren picked up a tablet computer and threw it onto the ground! He noted that this is not only at gadget for entertainment, but also a mobile POS device with a comprehensive set of features. This seemingly clunky tablet computer includes features required by the general retail industry, such as the ability to scan product barcodes as well as process credit card transactions. By upgrading the equipment in retail stores, truly smart shopping experiences can be achieved.Fallgren stressed that touch-control is an extraordinary technology. In terms of the industrial application of touch-control products, most people may think of the built-in entertainment equipment and control systems in cars, or the various types of automation equipment at production lines. However, Elo's touch solutions also span across the banking, healthcare, hotel, and retail industries, making it even faster and even more convenient for patients to register at hospitals. X-ray images as well as image files from various other types of tests can be seamlessly transferred between different departments via touch-controlled devices and cloud databases.In order to meet the needs of our enterprise customers, Elo's zero-bezel touch solutions include surface acoustic wave, five-wire resistive, as well as the newly introduced PCAP touch screens, supporting Apple's Mac, Google's Android, Open Linux, as well as Microsoft's Windows operating systems, which is why this solution is already being widely used in POI systems for public navigational guide equipment, bank ATMs, gaming and gambling equipment, POS management systems, voting machines, medical equipment, as well as automation equipment in various industries. Its clients include Abbot Laboratories in the medical industry, Hong Kong Harbor City in the retail industry and MGM Macau in the casino industry.According to Fallgren, in medical devices alone, the incorporation of touch technologies is growing at an annual rate of 18%. It is anticipated that other touch-controlled equipment, such as interactive digital billboards and retail self-service machines, will also be widespreading. Touch-enabled life is not only a part of the plots in Iron Man movies; smart interactive technologies in touch-controlled systems are already surrounding us in our everyday lives.Elo Touch Solutions OEM Business Division Vice President Niklas Fallgren

As labor costs in China are gradually rising, IT players have started turning to establish production lines in Vietnam, increasing the country's demand for upstream semiconductors and components. The scale of South Korea's semiconductor and component exports to Vietnam has grown significantly recently, which is benefiting South Korea's overall exports to Vietnam.In 2012, Vietnam surpassed Indonesia and Taiwan and became South Korea's sixth-largest export country. For IT product exports, Vietnam was the fourth-largest in 2013, surpassing Japan and Singapore.Semiconductor products accounted for 40.6% of South Korea and Vietnam's IT product trades in 2013, and with the addition of passive components and LCD displays, 70.3% of South Korea's IT product exports to Vietnam were semiconductors and components. These exports were mainly supplied to local IT plants.South Korea's semiconductor exports to Vietnam have turned strong and have been growing since 2010 thanks to Samsung Electronics' handset plants in Vietnam, which started operations in 2009. With Samsung continuing to expand its capacity in Vietnam, export volume and value are both expected to grow higher each year in the future, according to Digitimes Research.

There were 1,917 MOCVD sets in operation globally in May 2014 and Taiwan-based LED makers accounted for 28.6% of the number, followed by Japan-based makers with 23.8%, China-based makers with 22.9%, and South Korea-based makers with 14.1%, according to Digitimes Research.Of the MOCVD sets, those used to produce sapphire wafers had a total monthly capacity of 888,290 4-inch wafers of which Taiwan-based makers accounted for 44.5%, China-based makers 34.2% and South Korea-based makers 19%, Digitimes Research indicated.Sapphire ingot makers will have a total monthly production capacity of 7.39 million mm in 2104, with 770,600mm suitable for being sliced into 4-inch wafers.International prices for 2-inch sapphire ingots stood at US$4.5/mm in the first quarter of 2014 and are expected to rise to US$4.5-5/mm in the second half of 2014, while those for 4-inch ingots will increase from over US$16/mm in the second quarter to over US$17/mm in the second half.

A G1F touchscreen is composed of a glass-type touch sensor and a thin-firm-type touch sensor with one controlling the touch panel's X axis and the other the Y axis. G1F-based touch panels have been adopted by Samsung Electronics and Microsoft in their high-end tablets and mid-range smartphones, while LG Electronics is also said to have considered equipping its high-end smartphones with G1F touch panels.However, the G1F touch technology's worse-than-expected cost-effectiveness has now led these vendors to other touch technologies. Microsoft's new-generation tablet is set to adopt an OGS touch panel, while Samsung is replacing G1F with an improved thin-film-type touch technology. LG has shifted its focus to the development of the OGS technology. The above factors are threatening the G1F's position in the touch panel industry.G1F was able to gain popularity previously because it was considered to be able to overcome the problems facing rival technologies at the time: the glass-glass (GG) touch technology had weight and thickness issues; GFF technology was seriously impacted by ITO film shortages; and the emerging OGS technology had weak ruggedness and poor production yield rates.Because of the advantages, Microsoft chose the G1F for its Surface tablet and orders were given to Taiwan-based Youngfast Optoelectronics. Youngfast later established its own glass-type touch sensor production lines and became the sole supplier of the second-generation Surface's touch panels.However, Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's handset business has significantly changed the software giant's supply chain for its new-generation tablet and has switched to the OGS technology from G1F.Microsoft made the switch because the OGS touch technology has achieved significant improvements in yield rate and better ruggedness at the panel edges. And the technology only requires processing on a glass and does not need to laminate sensors with optical clear adhesive (OCA), which gives the technology a significant advantage over G1F in terms of cost effectiveness.G1F is also losing its advantages in the supply chain of Korea-based vendors as ITO firm makers such as Nitto Denko have been aggressively expanding their capacities. China-based O-film has successfully entered Samsung tablet's supply chain with its metal mesh technology and Samsung has started to adopt single-layer multi-point thin-film touch technology for its entry-level smartphones. With the OGS technology growing mature, LG has started placing orders for OGS panels made by Taiwan-based TPK to complement the insufficiency in OGS touch panel capacities and yield rates of its affiliate LG Innotek.After G1F touch technology gradually losing its competiveness, Youngfast, one of major G1F touch panel suppliers, has started strengthening its mass production for traditional GFF touch panels and also tried to use its new glass-type touch panel capacities to mass produce OGS touch panels.Youngfast has also cooperated with Japan-based Fujifilm to start metal mesh touch panel production. Korea-based makers, which are also facing the same situation, are expected to adopt a similar strategy as Youngfast's. The G1F technology is likely to disappear from the market soon, Digitimes Research estimates.

In the first quarter of 2014, Samsung Electronics and Apple together continued to account for almost half of the global smartphone market with LG Electronics staying in third position, according to Digitimes Research.China-based Xiaomi Technology posted the highest shipment growth rate and took the fourth title in the first quarter, driven by its efforts to roll out smartphones with high price/performance ratios. Coolpad captured the fifth vendor ranking due to its earlier deployment in the 4G sector.Due to the marginalization of the BlackBerry platform, BlackBerry has seen its shipments continue to decline with BlackBerry 7-based models still accounting for the bulk of overall shipments, despite the roll-outs of BlackBerry 10 family products. While the vendor has launched a number of entry-level and mid-range smartphones for some designated markets, it is still difficult for BlackBerry to make a turnaround due to the low price/performance ratios of its devices, Digitimes Research commented.Sony has continued to score, particularly in emerging markets, by highlighting its high-end models and the price advantages of its mid-range models. Digitimes Research believes Sony's smartphone shipments will grow significantly in the second quarter driven by its high-performance mid-range and flagship models.Motorola Mobility may see its popularity gain a boost thanks to the release of its entry-level model, the Moto E, priced at US$129, which is comparable to the Xperia E1 and Nokia X in terms of price but is more competitive in terms of the price/performance ratio.

According to a recent IDC research note, the transition toward mobile and cloud-based computing is unstoppable, with tablet volumes expected to pass total PC volume in the fourth quarter of 2014 and on an annual basis in 2016. Even smaller tablets are facing stiff market competition from large-size smartphones (phablets).While some semiconductor firms are using Moore's law to design increasingly more powerful, 64-bit, multiple-core processors to power mobile devices, others IC design houses are focusing on how to better tap the functionality and potential of mobile devices by connecting them to an increasing array of peripheral devices - such as TVs, keyboards, mice, and storage devices. One such company is Analogix and at Computex 2014, Digitimes stopped by to speak with Matt Ready, sales VP at Analogix, and discuss the importance of connectivity with mobile devices.Q: Analogix has a brand called SlimPort. Can you give us a primer on the difference between SlimPort and DisplayPort?A: DisplayPort is an industry standard display interface developed by VESA that is used to connect computing devices to a display. It was developed to replace interfaces such as VGA and DVI, with the key being DisplayPort is royalty-free and the interface can also be used to carry audio and high-speed data (USB).On the mobile side, VESA developed a lighter version called MyDP (Mobility DisplayPort) that provides connectivity between mobile devices and external displays and HDTVs. SlimPort is the Analogix brand that complies with MyDP. So basically, SlimPort-based devices can connect to any DisplayPort device and there are adapters to connect to any HDMI or VGA device as well. And there are more than 800 million DisplayPort devices in the market, so it's quite a big market.Q: Where and why is SlimPort being implemented?A: SlimPort was first implemented in the Google Nexus 4 back in 2012 and has continued to be used in a number of high-end tablets and smartphones from Fujitsu, Asustek, LG, and ZTE, as well as finding its way into Chromebooks from brands like Hewlett-Packard (HP), among others. The key is that the technology enables more features and can reduce costs. For example, users want to have the ability to take mobile audio and video and get it up on a big screen. Previously, the ability to get the video off of a tablet/smartphone was typically done by running it through a micro-HDMI port. Using SlimPort allowed the OEMs to drop the micro-HDMI port and simply run everything through the five-pin micro-USB port that is needed for charging. SlimPort simply takes control of the connector when a SlimPort dongle is plugged in, and while the devices are connected, SlimPort enables the display to also charge the mobile device. In 2013, support for Full HD was added but we really expect the technology to take off this year with SlimPort Pro.Q: Why's that?A: While SlimPort was great for connecting mobile devices to a display, the issue was that it was unidirectional. When you plug a SlimPort accessory into the micro-USB connector, it takes over the bus and allows the audio and video to come off of the mobile device, but you no longer have the USB functionality, which is the data functionality. This year, Analogix introduced SlimPort Pro, which is bidirectional. So now you can have audio and video, while also supporting data simultaneously. All are moving across the PHY in the micro-USB connector, and that data connection is moving both ways. This means a mobile device can be plugged into a hub where multiple USB ports can connect to a mouse, keyboard and monitor. And the content that is viewed can be controlled externally through the mouse and keyboard. So basically, a mobile device like a smartphone can become a PC in your pocket.A number of other improvements are included with SlimPort Pro as well. Bandwidth increased from 5.5Gb/sec to 6.75Gb/sec so you are seeing support for Ultra HD (4K) video. We are also working with partners like Qualcomm for improving the charging performance in the PHY. SlimPort delivered up to 9W of charging but with Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 users can receive up to 18W, enabling a much quicker recharge for the mobile device.Q: So how does SlimPort Pro work? Are the chips the same in all devices? Are they in the market?A: There is a transmitter chip (SlimPort Pro Tx) in the mobile device and a receiver chip (SlimPort Pro Rx) that will go into accessory devices like hubs, dongles and docking stations. We saw first silicon in the first quarter of this year and you are now seeing demos at Computex 2014. We should be the first out there with mass production with that push coming in the second half of the year. The first products for both tablets and smartphones should be coming to market late this year.Q: How has the reception been at Computex?A: If you look at Analogix, we have a number of revenue streams, including licensing DisplayPort IP. We also have a family of converter chips used in ultrabooks, motherboards and on dongles and we have PC related products such as timing controllers. But this year at Computex the main interest in the market has been for SlimPort Pro.First of all, application processors all have Ultra HD capable engines so customers are looking to moving to the Ultra HD support we have in SlimPort Pro. But with a bidirectional PHY, we are also enabling simultaneous audio, video and data connectivity. This is really capturing the imagination of players in the market, from mobile device vendors, to in-car entertainment suppliers, to IoT (Internet of Things) players.The reason is that people are seeing SlimPort Pro as having the potential to unlock the power of mobile devices such as smartphones. If you look at the development of the smartphone market through today, the increased functionality of the devices has killed off the digital camera market and it has killed off the GPS device and MP3 device markets. All of that functionality has become standard across all smartphones. Now if you embed a SlimPort Pro Tx into a high-end smartphone, you can exploit the increased performance that is being supplied by the wave of new quad-core and 8-core processors hitting the market. You now have a PC in a pocket.The ability to simply put your mobile device into a cradle and have all types of functionality, such as enabling keyboard, mouse, and external storage support, as well as audio and display support allows for a number of potential solutions that can seriously challenge the consumer notebook market over time. With SlimPort Pro we believe that mobile devices will get there sooner rather than later.Matt Ready, sales VP at AnalogixPhoto: Company

The traditional glass-glass (GG) touchscreen technology was once thought to be heading towards elimination from the IT industry as Apple, a major supporter of the technology, turned to other touchscreen technology for its new mobile devices. Compared to film-type touch panels, GG-based touch panels are heavier, thicker and have lower production yield rates.But Apple continues to sell the iPhone 4/4s equipped with GG-based touch panels in emerging markets and its GG touch panel-based iPad 4 is to replace the iPad 2 as its main device for the entry-level 9.7-inch tablet segment. Players such as Amazon and China-based smartphone and tablet vendors are also using GG-based touch panels for their entry-level products. With these products still around, Digitimes Research expects the GG touch technology to stay in the market for at least another year, until the OGS technology is able to improve the panel's ruggedness and production yield rates.The comparison between the ITO film-type and glass-type touchscreen technologies has always been a hot topic within the touchscreen industry. The glass-type touch panel is optically better, while the ITO film-type sees lower production costs, making it suitable for mass production and easier to expand production capacity. With the smartphone and tablet industries gradually expanding, the ITO firm-type touch panel has gradually become the mainstream of the entry-level/mid-range smartphone and mid-range tablet markets.As for high-end products, most vendors have turned to adopt OGS or embedded (in-cell or on-cell) touch panels, which are able to avoid the weight and thickness issues facing GG-based touch panels. Such a trend is threatening to eliminate the GG touchscreen technology from the IT industry.However, the glass-type touch panelcamp still has its supporters in brand name vendors. Amazon has adopted the GG touchscreen technology for its entry-level products. China-based smartphone vendors Lenovo and Huawei have also adopted glass-type single-layer multi-point sensors to pair with the GG and GFF technologies for their entry-level/mid-range smartphones.In March 2014, Apple announced it will stop producing the iPad 2, to be replaced by its 9.7-inch 2048-by-1536 GG-touch-panel-based iPad 4 for the 9.7-inch entry-level tablet segment. The company also continues to supply the iPhone 4/4s to fulfill emerging market demand. The production volume of the iPhone 4s is expected to reach 4-6 million units each quarter in the second half of 2014, helping the GG touchscreen technology to stay in the market.Digitimes Research estimates that Taiwan-based TPK and General Interface Solution (GIS) shipped over seven million touch panels for iPhone 4/4s in the first quarter of 2014, far higher than the original expectation.But it can still be foreseen that except for lowest-end white-box tablets, which will continue to adopt the GG touchscreen technology, other entry-level/mid-range smartphones' adoption rate of GG technology will gradually drop and be replaced by the OGS, which is expected to see increasing yield rates and decreasing production costs. Currently, two third of China's entry-level/mid-range smartphones have adopted GG solutions from China-based glass-type touch panel makers and the rate may drop to only one third by 2015.

At SID 2014, panel makers showed noticeable shifts to higher resolution technology for large-size products including Ultra HD OLED TV panels, compared to Full HD OLED panels that were on display the previous year, according to Digitimes Research.Ultra HD is now becoming the resolution most TV vendors are pushing for in their new units and panel makers are following by producing both Ultra HD LCD TV panels and Ultra HD OLED TV panels.Based on the exhibition, LG Display appears to be focusing more on OLEDs for use in TV products compared to Samsung Display, which is focusing mostly on OLED applications for small- to medium-size panels.China TV panel makers are also sporting similar large-size OLED and Ultra HD TV panel technology at the exhibition, with representatives of BOE stating that, due to the company's recent advancements in high-end panel technology, BOE is likely to see its market share in China rise significantly starting in 2016, added Digitimes Research.

May average retail pricing for 7W LED light bulbs (equivalent to 40W incandescent) in the China market rose 4.2% on month to CNY37.4 (US$5.90), while 9W models (equivalent to 60W incandescent) increased 2.7% to CNY45.80, according to Digitimes Research.Average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in Japan in May stood at JPY1,662 (US$16) and JPY2,423, respectively, with the former dropping 0.4% and the latter 9.6% on month, Digitimes Research indicated.May average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets were: KRW12,344 (US$11.10, down 13.2% on month) and KRW16,470 (up 0.7%) in South Korea; US$19.30 (up 0.5%) and US$22 (up 1.9%) in the US; and EUR13.4 (US$18.80, down 1.5%) and EUR14.3 (down 2.1%) in Europe.LG Electronics' 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Osram 60W-equivalent models available in the South Korea market had the highest average lumen-price ratios of 71.0lm/US$ and 98.8lm/US$, respectively in May. In terms of luminous efficiency, Toshiba 40W- and 60W-equivalent models for sale in the Japan market had the highest average levels of 74.6lm/W and 97.4lm/W, respectively.

Gigabyte Technology continues to develop products and innovations for the graphics card market and is focusing on enhancing its graphics cards to help them become professional products.Gigabyte remains optimistic about the graphics card industry and is gradually moving into the enterprise sector. Digitimes recently interviewed Eddie Lin, associate vice president of Gigabyte's Graphics Card Business Unit about the efforts Gigabyte has put into the graphics card market as well as the company's strategy for the future.Q: What products or technologies is Gigabyte focusing on for the VGA sector at Computex 2014?A: Graphics cards are definitely the main focus of the VGA department and we are also showcasing our new improved air and liquid cooling modules to show our technological leadership in the market.For the liquid cooling product line, we are showcasing our new WaterForce cooling module, designed for the top-end segment.As for air cooling, we have improved the WindForce cooling module with an even higher heat dissipation rate.We will also display our latest keyboards and mice at our booth including those under the Aorus brand.Q: How is the graphics card market currently? How is Gigabyte performing in the market?A: Graphics cards have already advanced to become more like boutique and professional products. At the very beginning, consumers purchased graphics cards to output images from their computers, but graphics cards now are used mainly for game play.As demand for high-resolution games continues to rise, graphics card performance also needs to dramatically improve to handle the surging demand. Graphics cards need to handle about four times the workload to advance from Full HD to Ultra HD resolutions.Therefore, in the short term, the graphics card industry will remain how it is now and consumers will continue to purchase graphics cards to play games.Gigabyte's role in the industry is to grow even more professional over our technology and to develop innovations that satisfy consumer demand. Gigabyte's graphics cards have grown more professional and elegant and are turning more toward higher-end markets.We have also improved our box art to enhance the professional impression of our graphics card products and have treated brand nurturing as a priority for future growth.Q: Can you give us more detail on the company's WaterForce cooling system? Compared to other liquid cooling systems available on the market, what are the advantages that the system has?A: We have seen our competitors release high-end graphics cards equipped with liquid cooling modules, but Gigabyte does not believe that is how liquid cooling should be adopted.When gamers equip 2-3 high-end graphics cards into their desktops to run SLI, the lack of internal space can greatly affect the heat dissipation of their machines. Gigabyte's WaterForce cooling system is developed to resolve such an issue and is only used in multi-graphics card scenarios.Our WaterForce system does not require chassis modifications, unlike most liquid cooling systems available in the market, which need a specially designed chassis. Users only need an empty 5.25-inch drive bay in their chassis to install the WaterForce.The WaterForce also features a control panel, with which users can manually change cooling fan and water pump speeds for each graphics card. Users can also click a button to equalize all the graphics cards' temperatures.WaterForce will be selling with three Nvidia high-end graphics cards, making its end price surpass US$3,000. Through the bundling, users will be able to install the system into their desktops right away, and will not need to be concern about their warranty.As for whether we will use the system for AMD graphics cards, it will depend on how AMD graphics cards performance, as we only like to adopt the system with the highest performing graphics cards on the market.Q: What kind of solution is the WindForce cooling system? What can consumers expect from the system?A: Liquid cooling has always been considered to have better performance than air cooling in terms of heat dissipation; however, our latest WindForce 600W cooling module is already able to achieve a performance almost the same as a liquid cooling module.The cooling module is able to dissipate heat generated from 600W of power consumption and has already been adopted onto our Nvidia Titan Black-based graphics cards.With the cooling module's 600W heat dissipation rate, the graphics cards are able to operate at a constant low temperature even during heavy loads to allow stable output.The module features many of Gigabyte's technologies such as our differing height fin design for the heat sink, Triangle Cool as well as a special fan designed to increase air flow. We have already acquired the patent for our Triangle Cool technology and are in the middle of acquiring others.Q: How about PC peripheral products? What new features has Gigabyte integrated in them?A: Gigabyte has been in the PC peripheral business for 6-7 years and we have designed many innovations for related products.For Aorus, we are showcasing the new Aorus Thunder K7 keyboard and M7 mouse. The keyboard features a detachable number pad, which can be attached on either the left or right side of the keyboard.The M7 is equipped with several thumb buttons, which are specially designed so users will not miss-click other buttons.We will also showcase latest Gigabyte branded accessories at the show.Eddie Lin, Associate VP of Gigabyte VGA businessPhoto: Joe Tsai, Digitimes, June 2014