Samsung Display is expected to make nearly US$5 billion in capital expenditures for developing AMOLED panel technology, according to Digitimes Research.Samsung made nearly US$4 billion in expenditures in 2013 for developing AMOLED panel technology and is expected to add another US$3-5 billion in 2014 amid increasing market prospects for the technology.The company also has intentions to expand flexible AMOLED display 6G production facilities by the end of 2014, which is likely to add another 9,000 substrates of monthly production capacity for the technology, said Digitimes Research, adding that Samsung will also invest in Ultra HD TV panel technology.Samsung's overall revenues from AMOLED panels are expected to be higher than those for LCD technology in 2014.LG Display meanwhile also plans to make over US$3 billion in capital expenditures for developing Ultra HD TV panel technology as well as 8G facilities for AMOLED TV panels and 6G facilities for developing LPTS handset panels.Taiwan-based AU Optronics (AUO) and Japan-based Sharp plan capex budgets of US$670 in 2014, while Innolux is expected to make US$830 million, showing that Korea-based makers are taking more initiatives to develop Ultra HD and AMOLED TV technology in 2014, added Digitimes Research.

Taiwan LCD TV makers' shipments reached 7.53 million units in the first quarter of 2014, down 20.8% on quarter, according to Digitimes Research.The decline marks the 9th consecutive quarter Taiwan makers have seen their shipments drop.Shipments to Asia dropped largely due to a decline in orders from China-based TV vendor Haier, according to Digitimes Research's freshly published quarterly Taiwan FPD Tracker report on TV shipments.About 14.7% of the makers' shipments were for 50-inch and above size units while shipments for 32-inch units declined due to decrease panel production capacity in the segment from Taiwan panel makers.TPV Technology, Hon Hai Precision Industry and Compal were the top three makers in Taiwan in terms of shipments during the first quarter, said Digitimes Research.Looking to the second quarter, the makers' shipments are expected to increase to 9.1 million units, added Digitimes Research.

There were 20.4 million white-box tablets shipped globally in the first quarter of 2014, decreasing by 27.4% on quarter and by 2.4% on year, according to Digitimes Research.The decrease in shipments was mainly because most white-box vendors are based in China and there were fewer working days in the first quarter due to the Lunar New Year holidays, Digitimes Research pointed out.Of the shipments, 7-inch models accounted for 70.5%, 7.85/7.9-inch ones 21.3%, 8- to 9-inch ones 4.2%, above 9- to 10-inch 2.9%, above 10-inch 1.1%.Due to strong demand in emerging markets including India, Indonesia, Thailand, Russia and Eastern Europe, global white-box tablet shipments in the second quarter of 2014 will increase 14.2% on quarter and 45.6% on year to 23.3 million units.

BOE and China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) both have reported more than 8% in net profits in the first quarter of 2014, beating out Korea- and Taiwan-based panel makers, including Samsung Display, LG Display, Innolux and AU Optronics (AUO), according to Digitimes Research.Both Korea and Taiwan panel makers suffered from decreased tablet panel shipments during the quarter due to the traditional off season while China makers continued to secure orders and expand overall panel production.BOE's and CSOT's net profits grew 31% and 114% on year in 2013, respectively, and are expected to continue growing in 2014, bringing competition to the forefront against Taiwan and Korea makers, added Digitimes Research.

Taiwan panel makers' shipments of 9-inch and above size TFT LCD panels reached 62.21 million units in the first quarter of 2014, down 3.2% on quarter, according to Digitimes Research.In the notebook panel segment, AU Optronics (AUO) shifted production on one of its 5G lines to notebook panel production while Korea-based makers shifted production away from notebook panels to tablet panels, bringing in slight notebook panel shipment growth of 0.6% for Taiwan makers during the quarter, according to Digitimes Research's latest quarterly FPD Data Tracker report on Taiwan's large-size panel shipments.Taiwan makers tablet panel shipments increased 2.2% during the first quarter while TV and monitor panel shipments declined 2.9% and 9.3% respectively.Digitimes Research said Taiwan panel makers are losing their competitive edge in the 32-inch LCD TV panel market due to price competition from China makers, adding that 32-inch LCD TV panels made up 35% of overall LCD TV panel shipments in the first quarter.

The bit-growth rate of non-PC DRAM chips is expected to reach 46% in 2014, led by strong demand for mobile, specialty and graphics DRAM parts, according to Digitimes Research.Powered by demand from the cloud computing and big data sectors, the bit-growth rate of server DRAM chips will grow by anannual rate of 27.2% in 2014, slightly lower than the 28.8% of a year earlier but much higher than a projected 9.7% rise for standard DRAM in 2014.The rate of bit-growth for mobile DRAM parts is expected to top as high as 62.7% in 2014, buoyed by brisk sales of smartphones and tablets, said Digitimes Research.Meanwhile, demand for graphics DRAM is likely to grow at an annual rate of 42%, propelled by a several-fold increase in use of graphics DRAM chips in Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's new Xbox One as well as by hardware upgrades of multimedia devices.

Shipments of smartphone application processors in the China market are expected to grow 13.6% sequentially and 10.9% on year in the second quarter of 2014, according to Digitimes Research.The mobile communication industry in China has entered into a period with steady growth, with shipments now to be more regulated by seasonality. Individual chipset suppliers thus will see their shipments gain momentum along with a take-off of the LTE chip market, Digitimes Research believes.MediaTek is expected to see its AP shipments climb 10.9% sequentially in the second quarter, led by rising shipments of its 8-core MT6592 processors as well as dual-core CPUs, Digitimes Research estimates in its latest quarterly data report on China's smartphone AP market.Shipments of single-, dual- and quad-core solutions by Spreadtrum Communications will gain momentum in the second quarter. Additionally, the IC design house will begin to ship 3-mode LTE SoCs in the quarter.Qualcomm will continue to push sales of its Qualcomm reference design (QRD) solutions as well as its LTE chips and 64-bit family products with its shipments likely to expand 22% sequentially in the second quarter.HiSiliconTechnologies and Nvidia will be able to maintain their shipment momentum in the second quarter thanks to continual orders from their respective clients, according to the Digitimes Research report.

China touch panel makers' shipments to the handset, tablet and notebook segments dropped 19.9%, 13.5% and 44.7% respectively in the first quarter of 2014, according to Digitimes Research's latest quarterly data report.The drop was mainly due to shipment slowdowns that generally take place in the first quarter of each year coupled with holiday seasons and worker shortage.Thin-film type touch panels are expected to make up 77.5% of the makers' shipments as of second-quarter 2014 as China handset vendors put in increased orders for the technology to meet entry-level and mid-range smartphone demand in China during 2014, Digitimes Research estimates in its latest quarterly data report on China's touch panel industry.The demand will push China-based O-Film's handset touch panel shipments to around 35 million units in the second quarter as a result, added Digitimes Research.Digitimes Research also expects the makers' shipments of 11-inch and below size touch panels for use in tablet products to increase 7.9% in the second quarter due to increased demand from Samsung Electronics, Lenovo and various white-box vendors.

Taiwan makers' LCD monitor shipments dropped 18.9% on quarter and 4.4% on year in the first quarter of 2014 to 19.83 million units, according to Digitimes Research.The global LCD monitor market saw limited growth in 2013 and continues to fluctuate going into 2014. Shipments are expected to rise in the second quarter by about 2% due to demand in China, however.Digitimes Research added that many panel makers are shifting production capacity away from monitor panels to small- to medium-sizes.

The "information security" has faced tougher-than-ever challenges as the Internet and mobile devices have become prevalent during the modern era. "Bring your own device" is putting the operating environments of many governments and businesses at risk, said Robert Chin, Chairman, President & CEO of Clientron, in an exclusive interview. On the other hand, thin client PCs incorporating cloud computing technologies are smaller, lighter, and energy-saving, providing enterprise and organization users with the convenience and confidentiality they need most to have better security control."While the shipment of the PC is declining, the sale of thin clients continues to grow annually," said Chin, noting the promising growth of thin clients in the interview. "Especially when cloud computing applications at this stage have gradually become universal, a major portion of processing and storage can now be saved on the cloud, which further boosts the demand of thin clients." Clientron has launched thin client products combined with cloud computing technologies.The top three thin client PC manufacturer in the worldClientron, founded in 1983, targets user-side thin clients in the B2B market. The company took the lead and developed the world's first 486 thin client in 1996. Since 2006, the accumulative shipments of thin clients have exceeded 2.6 million units, making Clientron the third biggest thin client manufacturer in the world. Its clients include internationally renowned suppliers such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, IGEL and NEC.Explaining why Clientron has been favored by numerous clients, Chin noted that "our product lines are supported by 9 CPU platform suppliers, with Intel, TI, AMD and VIA are all partners of Clientron's embedded system solutions, which allows us to grasp product trends accurately."Given that the appeal of thin clients is small-volume production of a wide range of different products, Clientron's R&D team leverages its combination of various embedded platforms and operating systems to design products that meet the demands of public sectors, banks, schools, military units, and many different fields. This is the one of core competences of Clientron.More than 90% of Clientron's clients, up to 150 companies in total, are foreign companies and mainly located in Europe. Chin himself has three mobile phones and five phone numbers so as to provide timely and complete services. "My mobile phones are never switched off," said Chin. Moreover, owning two factories, situated in Taipei and Xiamen China respectively, enables Clientron to manage the allocation of production capacity as well as the design and manufacture ability more efficiently than competitors in the same industry.The soaring sales of POSApart from thin clients, Clientron began to lay out plans for the POS (point of sales) market in 2011 and saw a substantial growth of 189% in revenues from the segment in 2013. The main reason behind it is that the all-in-one flat panel products introduced by Clientron had caught the eyes of clients with their beautiful designs, coupled with an excellent heat dissipation performance that effectively avoids malfunctioning and reduces the need for maintenance, which accelerated its entrance into the US and European markets."Clientron will continue to develop new products based on the profound and professional foundations of embedded systems accumulated over many years." Chin especially pointed out that Clientron is taking active measures planning for the medical electronics market, believing that many Medicare business opportunities will be generated from the aging societies. "Instead of life-related products, we choose to penetrate peripheral devices with ICT technologies." For instance, the Patient Infotainment Terminal, which integrates personal medical information, infotainment, calls and even shopping with credit cards, is identified by Clientron as a medical application with great market potentials.The future lies in market business opportunities and smart applications originated from linking sensors, IoT, terminals, and cloud computing. In this industry, which is full of growth potentials, Clientron will utilize its experience and know-how in professional embedded platform design, as well as agile manufacturing abilities and quick service support to constantly expand its presence through vertical integration of different industries, and provide clients from various fields with the best solutions for smart embedded platforms.Robert Chin, Chairman & CEO of Clientron, believes the thin client market will continue to grow.