LB Semicon is planning to offer fan-out wafer-level package (FOWLP) service next year at the earliest. The company completed the development of relevant technologies earlier this year and has been testing them with an analog chip customer since the first quarter. LB Semicon will likely offer FOWLP for RF and power management ICs.Fan-out packaging market was worth US$1.5 billion in 2020 but is expected to grow 15.1% per year on average to be worth US$3.4 billion in 2026, According to Yole Developpement.LB Semicon is a company in South Korea which provides the full turn-key service of WLCSP, RDL, bumping, probe test, back-end and etc.LB Semicon

STAr Technologies, a leading supplier of semiconductor reliability test systems, today announces the sale of Accel-RF HTOL Burn-In test systems to top semiconductor foundries in Taiwan. Accel-RF Instruments Corp., a STAr Technologies Group company, located in San Diego, U.S.A. and specializing in turn-key RF reliability and performance characterization test solutions for compound semiconductors, provides this HTOL burn-in reliability test solution.With industries driving increased complexity in RF systems, more components and devices are becoming part of the RF block diagram. To ensure complete system reliability, the qualification of critical components subject to high RF drive when in use is needed. Accel-RF, the world leader in the design and manufacture of RF reliability test systems, designed the RF-Biased Burn-In system with modular architecture and a high channel-capacity, expandable tray design, to provide the flexibility to qualify multiple device types within a small rack footprint. The system boasts a range of DC bias supply options, from high resolution/low power supplies for small devices including GaAs HBT and SiGe, to options for high power RF devices including GaN and LDMOS, etc.The RF-Biased HTOL Burn-In system configuration has all power supply control units and PCU modules embedded and controlled through the LIFETEST software and system controller. Auto-Bias features for gate/base and drain/collector levels, and on/off sequencing are programmable in the PCU setup. Each channel or DUT is independently sourced and controlled in this platform architecture. All temperature setting and control are achieved through the LIFETEST software and temperature monitoring is done independently and individually per DUT channel."The RF-Bias Burn-In reliability system addresses growing industry test requirements and enables manufacturers to collect the reliability data their customers demand, ensuring early adoption of their devices to the marketplace," Roland Shaw, president of Accel-RF commented. "The sale of our RF reliability systems to Taiwan's top foundries reflects our ability to stay on the cutting edge of semiconductor test technology, and shows that we have been recognized by the global semiconductor industry."Yu-Ming Chien, President of STAr Technologies test business group said, "Innovation is at the core of our corporate philosophy. The RF-Biased Burn-In reliability system diversifies and enhances our range of products, solutions and services. STAr Technologies will continue being committed to providing effective solutions to meet customers' test needs now and in the future."

Global Unichip Corp. (GUC), the leader in Advanced ASIC, announced that they have silicon proved their 7.2 Gbps HBM3 solution, using SK hynix's first available HBM3 samples. The platform was demonstrated at the Partner Pavilion of the TSMC 2022 North America Technology Symposium; it contained an HBM3 Controller, a PHY, GLink-2.5D die-to-die interface, and a 112G SerDes. The platform supports both the TSMC CoWoS-S (silicon Interposer) and the CoWoS-R (organic interposer) advanced packaging technologies.The platform represents real-world CPU/GPU/AI/Networking chips by integrating multiple HBM3 memories, GLink-2.5D die-to-die interfaces, and 112G-LR lanes in a high power (up to 400 W) SoC. GUC designed the SoC chip, interposer, substrate and DFT to meet high power and high speed requirement at the system level; managed the consigned materials and final testing with extensive operation experience; and worked with TSMC on CoWoS package assembly.The HBM3 PHY and Controller IP are ready for high yield production at 7.2 Gbps. GUC's patent-pending interposer design allows HBM3 bus routing between PHY and memory at any angle while keeping the same signal quality as in regular straight HBM bus routing. It also provides a high flexibility for the SoC and interposer floorplan. GUC's patented solution enables a memory bus of one HBM3 die to be split into two Controller/PHY pairs in two separate SoC dies. This unique feature enables the configuration of 2:6 or 2:10 SoC vs. HBM3 use cases.SK hynix's HBM3 – used for GUC's Controller, PHY, and platform – provides up to 819 GB/s of bandwidth. "Recently we started mass production of HBM3 and are proving the world's first readiness of HBM3 and its best performance." said Sungsoo Ryu, head of DRAM product planning at SK hynix, "By this cooperation, SK hynix and GUC were able to confirm their partnership within the HBM ecosystem. We appreciate this collaboration as an opportunity to prove the world's best HBM3 solution and solidify our leadership in the premium DRAM market.""We are proud, together with TSMC and SK hynix, to demonstrate a first-in-the-industry HBM3 solution. Our HBM3 Controller and PHY are based on the long time and high-volume manufacturing experience of GUC's CoWoS/HBM2 products. At 7.2 Gbps we are ready for the ever-growing speed requirements of our customers.", said Jentai Hsu, vice president of GUC. "GUC has a unique combination of HBM3, GLink-2.5D and GLink-3D IP portfolio, CoWoS, InFO_oS, 3DIC design expertise, package design, electrical and thermal simulations, DFT and production testing, high volume manufacturing experience to enable fast development, and quick production ramp-up of the highest end CPU/GPU/AI/Networking products."To learn more about GUC's HBM3/2E, GLink-2.5D/3D IP portfolio and InFO/CoWoS/3DIC total solution, please contact your GUC sales representative directly or send email to IP-FAE-AM@guc-asic.com.Please visit https://www.guc-asic.comGUC 7.2Gbps HBM3 solution using SK Hynix's first available HBM3 samplesKey features of GUC's HBM3 CoWoS Platform

DIGITIMES Research report shows that Taiwan's ICT industry development has shifted from focusing on hardware to hardware/software integration models. The industry is combining big data analysis and AI applications in public IoT to facilitate the development of smart city management. Tools such as IoT, AI, cloud computing, and communications technologies are efficiently integrated with urban infrastructure to ultimately produce economic benefits and improve quality of life.It is estimated that the business opportunities of smart cities will reach US$2.6 trillion in 2025, mainly in the Asia Pacific region. This includes sectors such as smart poles, building, parking, monitor, government, transportation, fire protection, water conservancy and WITMED. Smart cities, with a massive business potential, will become the future momentum!DIGITIMES will have Ayesha Khanna, co-founder and CEO of Addo, to share her observation of new smart city applications as well as how technologies can improve people's life and government efficiency on July 21 smart city webinar.In a pre-event interview that asked about Taiwan's role in the smart city market, Khanna pointed out that Taiwan's expertise in semiconductor and hardware is important to smart cities' development as more data is being used to improve AI systems, resulting in rising demand for stronger infrastructure and hardware with next-generation AI semiconductors.Khanna believes that whether it is AI, robots, 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT) or 5G, smart city's development should not start purely with technologies but the idea of assisting people to solve their problems or become the aspirational goal for citizens.When people want to have better energy and waste management in their city, designers can create an AI solution for monitoring energy usage that can turn streetlights on and off with a built-in smart lighting system. They can also build a centralized trash collection mechanism with sensors and have robots powered by AI to collect waste all around the neighborhoods to reduce traffic and road congestions.It is also important to collect and integrate publicly available data and data from the ecosystem's private firms to form a system. By combining data of taxi companies and traffic light operation, it reduces people's waiting time for taxies, while traffic congestion can also be significantly lowered with the system's assistance in rerouting or changing the traffic lights.Nowadays, because of the pandemic, the number of hospital visits via online meeting software or telemedicine services has increased dramatically as people find it more convenient and efficient. The technologies used by medical care system are also making improvements with some designers beginning to adopt biometric sensors onto the terminals for the machines to collect more patients' data, giving doctors more information to make intelligent diagnosis, such as handheld ultrasound products that can be connected via smartphones for patients to check on themselves via AI or by medical staff nearby and then send results to their doctors.Technologies for remote medical care are a key area that many IT companies have devoted their R&D effort to. Ambulances built with remote medical care system can connect doctors with ambulances care assistants for them to do checkups while transporting patents to the hospital. The doctors can also make an examination over patients' injuries via a head-mounted display (HMD) to save time.However, all these innovations still rely on 5G to form connections. The technology allows devices to communicate with each other with its fast transmission speed and has brought a revolution to the manufacturing industry and factories. In Singapore, a lot of investments are being made for deploying 5G infrastructure throughout the city. This is also the case for many other countries including the US.As smart systems are adopting more sensors to enhance their data collection ability, 5G's commercialization has become the key to unlock the potential of IoT. With telecom carriers worldwide keenly expanding their 5G infrastructure, Khanna is optimistic about the birth of more new smart systems and the rapid development of smart cities worldwide soon.In the end, the future of smart city will not be operated by one large central AI, but multiple small ones. Issues within smart cities' key sectors such as healthcare, energy and education will continue to be handled by government departments or public sector companies with them using AIs to optimize and create innovations for their services, Khanna said.Join DIGITIMES Asia smart city webinar in discovering the digital transformation of smart cities, find out how to build a smart city, and about the applications and connected solutions that drive city extensive improvements, creating better quality of life for residents and business opportunities for enterprises.For more webinar information, please visit https://reurl.cc/zZdEM0DIGITIMES Asia smart city webinar will start on 7/21

Quectel Wireless Solutions, a global IoT solutions provider, is continuing to build on the successful EMEA roll-out of its Connectivity-as-a-Service (CaaS) and is now launching global connectivity sales in the Asia Pacific region. This new launch complements Quectel's heritage of providing innovative modules and antennas to support cellular applications and allows customers to simplify their edge-based deployments by purchasing SIM cards and connectivity management alongside modules, antennas and design services. Adding connectivity broadens the company's portfolio and helps its customers to simplify the journey of designing, building, connecting and commercializing their IoT offerings.Quectel connectivity is available now in more than 190 countries via over 500 network operators, and currently provides 2G, 3G, 4G, NB-IoT and Cat-M connections. Connectivity from Quectel is available to the whole market and will particularly benefit deployments that can realize accelerated time-to-market and optimized business efficiencies from using a single supplier for module, antenna and connectivity.Embedded and integrated SIM (eSIM and iSIM) offerings are now entering mainstream adoption, and Quectel has recently launched the new BG773A-GL ultra-compact LTE Cat M1, NB1 and NB2 module which offers integrated SIM (iSIM) support. The iSIM capability of this new module provides huge flexibility and simplicity for integrators and IoT service providers, simplifying customer deployments that previously would have needed to have a local-market traditional SIM card installed and managed. With an eSIM or iSIM enabled module plus Quectel connectivity, the module, once powered up, will attach to the best available network."Quectel connectivity is built on the backbone of service, quality and reliability, backed by Tier 1 providers and robust service level agreements (SLAs)," said Richard Hart, Director of Global Connectivity at Quectel. "Our focus is on providing commercial flexibility for our customers to ensure they receive high-quality connectivity that enables their IoT solutions regardless of where they are located in the world. Using self-optimizing tariffs, we can minimize the risk of additional charges when issues such as over-the-air (OTA) software updates utilize extra bandwidth and therefore prevent bill shock."Alongside its long-standing global expertise in modules and antennas, Quectel also has significant experience in connectivity, having developed its QuecConnectivity platform that already manages more than 30 million SIMs in Asia. "Our module and antenna offering can now be combined with Connectivity-as-a-Service providing customers a single point of entry to Quectel's full portfolio of products and services," said Michael Wallon, VP Sales, APAC & ANZ."By adding connectivity to our capabilities, Quectel is reducing complexity for our customers by simplifying and accelerating IoT device deployment," said Patrick Qian, CEO of Quectel. "Quectel is committed to innovation that drives benefits for customers in the IoT industry, and our connectivity launch in the Asia Pacific region is another milestone in that journey. Quectel has helped IoT companies build a smarter world for more than a decade, now we will also connect a smarter world."

As countries continue to lift lockdowns, people's lives and business activities will soon recover while the world enters an era of coexistence with the virus, or so-called the "New Normal." DataVan (3521.TWO) adopted it as the theme at COMPUTEX this year to showcase a series of smart retail solutions aimed at supporting retail businesses to rapidly adapt to post-pandemic consumer behaviors and grasp market opportunities.Kris Hsu, General Manager of DataVan, stated that countries across the world have recently begun to ease restrictions and consumers are returning to physical markets. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer behavior to preferring minimal contact to reduce the risk of infection; additionally, the pandemic has fostered the habit of ordering food online through smartphones and computers. These two major changes should be reflected in the evolution of retail devices and platforms. DataVan has responded to this trend by offering POS and KIOSK terminals that better meet consumer habits in the new normal.The next generation KIOSK "Mars" has been empowered by DataVan with even greater functionality that allows for self-ordering in restaurants and smartphone reservations to reduce consumer waiting times; a built-in barcode reader can scan member's barcodes and match them with promotional events to increase the repurchase rate. Furthermore, its built-in camera and back-end AI image recognition system can also be used to accurately identify the customer's gender, age, and other information to collect big data as key references for ingredient preparation, menu design, and marketing strategies planning.Body temperature measurement and disinfection equipment are commonly deployed in the commerce space during the pandemic, however, DataVan's "DKS-2150 Digital Signage" provides a value-added solution for these products. The device successfully integrates body temperature measurement, hand disinfection, and digital signage. It is equipped advanced thermography technologies to offer higher accuracy and reaction speeds. Through the built-in camera with smart image recognition, DKS-2150 is capable of detecting whether people are wearing masks. In addition to functions such as layout planning, ad scheduling, and multimedia playback required in digital signage, DataVan has future plans to add touch features to the display to provide search functions similar to KIOSK; for example, consumers can utilize touch screens to quickly find products or locations in supermarkets or malls.In terms of DataVan's POS terminals, a comprehensive product line was presented including Tango, a unique flip-over display POS and the winner of Taiwan Excellence Award and iF Design Award. Tango has been adopted by premium beauty salons in western countries and placed at store entrances where customers can independently control to boost customer engagement. There's also "HiFive," the small and lightweight multifunctional Panel PC that can be used as a checkout POS, placed in front of stores as a queue management system, or used as a table side ordering system. Kris Hsu revealed that a major Taiwanese chain restaurant is preparing to implement HiFive as their kitchen display system (KDS) to increase operational efficiency. This case fully shows HiFive's strong advantage of agility to meet diverse applications.Aside from hardware, Kris Hsu also emphasized DataVan's results in software development. One of the key features at COMPUTEX was "DataVan Central", the Cloud IoT Management Platform," which utilizes the cloud to connect with multiple DataVan POS or KIOSK terminals. The administrator can also remotely monitor the device status and update software or firmware. If there is an issue with equipment, the platform can issue a real-time alarm, increasing device management and maintenance efficiency, and thus greatly reducing management costs for administrators.DataVan's several solutions for the "New Normal" at COMPUTEX coincidentally respond to the current expectations of Taiwanese. For example, there was science park operator who engaged in discussions during the exhibition to install KIOSK terminals in the park's cafeterias and shopping areas to reduce contact opportunities by offering online orders through smartphones. Kris Hsu stated that DataVan will always continue to develop solutions that meet the "New Normal" life, and help retail industry to satisfy customers, charging full speed ahead toward post-pandemic business opportunities!DataVan is a highlight at this year's COMPUTEX Taipei by showcasing several solutions under the theme of the "New Normal."

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of industrial-grade DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today announces the industrial-grade ADATA 31C series 112-layer 3D NAND (BiCS5) solid state drives (SSD) utilizing the SATA III interface. They include the ISSS31C 2.5-inch, IM2S31C8 M.2 2280, and IM2S31C4 M.2 2242 SSDs. All three SSDs are designed to be energy efficient, feature high capacities, and are well suited for high-load industrial systems relating to industrial computing, embedded devices, automation, networking, transportation, and other fields.The industrial-grade ISSS31C 2.5-inch, IM2S31C8 M.2 2280, and IM2S31C4 M.2 2242 SSDs are all equipped with 112-layer 3D TLC (BiCS5) flash memory developed by WDC and KIOXIA and come with a maximum capacity of 2TB. They have undergone rigorous temperature verification and testing to ensure they can operate optimally in a wide range of temperatures (from -40 °C to 85 °C) to ensure excellent quality, reliability, and durability.All three SSDs also feature Thermal Throttling technology, which automatically adjusts the device's temperature, even within a fanless host device, to help improve the heat dissipation efficiency of the overall system. What's more, with Wear Leveling technology durability is enhanced for a longer product lifespan to meet the rigors of industrial systems, while a DRAM Buffer reduces latency and improves random read and write performance. For maximum data integrity and security, the SSDs sport an LDPC ECC (error correcting code) mechanism and End-to-End Data Path Protection technology.Wayne Lin, Manager of Industrial Product Management at ADATA commented: "Meeting the needs of our customers in different industries and providing high-quality storage solutions are the basis of ADATA industrial software and hardware integration technologies. Taking into account the multiple advantages of capacity, cost, and speed, the R&D team at ADATA introduced SLC Cache technology to improve the capabilities of high-capacity TLC memory. We also developed A+ SSDTOOL monitoring software to help users monitor the remaining capacity, service life, and other parameters in real-time. What's more, with intelligent temperature control technology, the host device can be notified of temperature changes to activate the protection mechanism. ADATA will continue to develop a variety of hardware and software integration technologies and incorporate them into our products to deliver industrial solutions with excellent functionality and value."For more product details, please visit ADATA Industrial's website:ISSS31C 2.5" SSD: https://industrial.adata.com/en/product/ISSS31CIM2S31C8 M.2 2280 SSD: https://industrial.adata.com/en/product/IM2S31C8IM2S31C4 M.2 2242 SSD: https://industrial.adata.com/en/product/IM2S31C4ADATA launches industrial-grade 31C series BiCS5 SSDs

With the deep integration of the new generation of information technology and manufacturing industry, and the digital transformation and upgrading, digitalization is currently intensively filling every link of production and manufacturing. Under this background, ZNT, the industrial automation integration platform solution supplier, continues to move forward to the industry's cutting-edge with a variety of cutting-edge Application Benchmark products. In this CEO interview, ZNT shared the development experience, opportunities and challenges of ZNT digital empowerment, as well as its vision and planning for the whole industry.Q: As an industry-leading supplier of equipment automation platform solutions for realizing Industry 4.0, ZNT has accumulated lots of practical experience and provides innovative software solutions for enabling smart manufacturing. Please share your company's recent development status.A: While providing solutions to the manufacturing industry since 1985, especially the recent years have meant a rapid acceleration for our business model in many ways. ZNT originally started with equipment automation solutions primarily for the semiconductor industry. To address Industry 4.0 demands, we expanded our key focus first into Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) over the last years and now even further with a horizontal product extension into the field of entire Manufacturing Operations Management solutions (MOM) providing Advanced Planning and Scheduling functionality (APS) as well as a vertical extension into the Product Lifecycle Management space (PLM).In the beginning we specifically targeted semiconductor companies still operating disconnected manufacturing system environments and helped them into a smarter world, with first steps for data integration and equipment automation to reduce manual and paper-based work in the manufacturing process and later on with introducing smart manufacturing solutions. Meanwhile many other industries have been facing the same manufacturing challenges and we have expanded in industries such as high-tech electronics, medical device and newly also batteries.With this expansion in our product portfolio and target industries ZNT has been continuously growing and now operates eight global sites, four of them in Asia with the newest ones in Shanghai and Taiwan. This enables us to support global accounts with their digital transformation and execute more and more multi-site cross regional factory rollouts based on our grown portfolio and manpower.Q: ZNT has been focusing on the field of semiconductors and high-tech electronics and is committed to helping customers solve production pain points and enhance the real value of production. Please explain ZNT's achievements in such industries as well as the value ZNT can provide for production optimization based on its industry experience.A: ZNT definitely had a strong influence on software development for equipment automation in the semiconductor industry in the last 40 years and provides with the Process Automation Controller (PAC) product one of the leading integration platforms today. Our PAC helped many enterprises to optimize their production processes with data integration, equipment automation and an overall more effective use of their manufacturing resources.We haven't only cooperated closely with many well-known semiconductor manufacturers in the world for many years, but assisted enterprises in their industrial transformation and reaching the next level of production. In cooperation with a well-known semiconductor packaging company ZNT helped such company to establish a comprehensive and transparent smart manufacturing platform based on Siemens Opcenter Execution MES and our PAC. With such systems in place, the customer heavily increased the speed for new product introductions (NPI) as well as improved quality and cost control.In the high-tech electronics space we helped another customer connecting his manufacturing silos and disconnected systems by implementing an end-to-end solution starting from design over engineering to manufacturing. In this case we implemented the Valor solution which is also part of the Siemens Digital Software portfolio resulting in making Customer's NPI much easier and optimizing manufacturing processes with several SMT-lines increasing the overall equipment efficiency (OEE). These are good examples of providing future-proofen solution platforms enabling customers to setup and follow strategic digitalization initiatives to transform and adapt their business to reach the next level.Q: Which opportunities and challenges do you think domestic manufacturers are encountering? How can they increase the grade of industrial automation and accelerate the transformation to smart manufacturing for enhancing their competitive advantages?A: At present, the global economy is experiencing unprecedented challenges, also still under the impact of the epidemic. The manufacturing industry is essential for China's national economy. In order to promote the rapid development of the national economy, the government has issued many preferential policies to strongly support the digital transformation and further growth of the manufacturing industry. At the same time market demands increase faster than ever before; Robust supply chains have been taken for granted and now seem to become more and more fragile. Recruiting talented workers is getting more difficult while labor costs increase. Many manufacturers face a major challenge to keep pace with these trends and market development.As a result many domestic Manufacturers have to speed up their NPI and at the same time have to meet higher quality and zero defect requirements as well as traceability demands, especially in regulated industries like Medical Devices, Automotive or Aerospace. In addition, more and more enterprises in the supply chain require manufacturing audits which can hardly be passed with a traditional paper-based production or disconnected manufacturing systems. At the same time these challenges offer great opportunities for domestic Manufacturers to start embracing the process of digitalization and automation in order to to accelerate transformation and to reach the next level of manufaturing.An efficient short-term solution is to implement an MES to eliminate the paper-based documentation. This immediately helps to reduce scrap while increasing manufacturing efficiency and cost control. Although a MES is a solid base companies have to continue their investments to fully integrate all their manufacturing systems and data.Nevertheless, our experience clearly shows that in order to sustain in the future companies have to look at a wholistic digitalization strategy to achieve an entire digital thread. It is most effective to select a provider which offers an integrated manufacturing solution portfolio that matches such strategy. A future-proofen software environment for supporting smart design and manufacturing has at least to consist of products in the field of PLM, simulation, MOM including equipment automaton, quality and analytics that are fully integrated to each other. Such solution scope will be the base for further transformation and enable companies to keep up with any market demands. The implementation does not have to be done all at once but can be done step by step always keeping the overall goal in mind.Q: The epidemic has swept around the world, and due to the lack of chips a solid semiconductor supply chain has become a big challenge for many industries, especially for automotive. What learnings and opportunities do you think the epidemic has brought to enterprise transformation?A: Manufacturers were used to rely on robust global supply chains with transport capacities and parts being always available. Skilled workforce was on hand as were new equipment and spare parts for maintenance. They started to optimize their purchase for example by ordering high volume parts from only a single source or like the automotive industry with just-in-time deliveries to the production lines to meet growing market demands and increasing cost pressure. With the epidemic spreading around the world most supply chains have been disrupted which led to shortages especially in the field of semiconductor and electronic components. Especially the automotive industry being in the midst of a transformation process to develop and produce more electric cars has been severely hit with its optimized supply chain and purchasing processes.We have been observing several learnings in the manufacturing industry over the last two and a half years and many companies also seized new opportunities. For us the epidemic meant a strong demand for our solution portfolio in the field of digitalization, smart manufacturing and automation. Talking about specific solutions we supported our customers by adding functionality and value to their solutions. For example the product BOM-Connector as a part of our electronics offering helps purchasing departments to get more accurate quotes for electronic components much quicker and therefore consolidating the current fragile supply chain. By using Opcenter APS functions of our MOM solution production managers can balance demand and capacity to generate achievable production schedules. They regain some flexibility and can produce more while using existing assets. With our long-term MES expertise we helped many customers for example to reduce their scrap and increase quality leading to a better OEE.Especially in the semiconductor and electronics market it became obvious that enterprises with a higher level of automation overcame the epidemic much better. Also the demand for our PAC equipment integration platform has been growing significantly based on the very good experiences of our solid installation base at many leading enterprises in the semiconductor market. PAC bridges the gap between MES and shopfloor providing and executing relevant data in both directions. Advanced automation scenarios imply less dependency on the workforce while achieving a high level of automated manufacturing operations.Q: As 5G accelerates the Internet of Everything, digital transformation has become a development axis that companies in the Chinese market focus on. From your observation and practical experience, what does "digital transformation" mean to you and the industry?A: For us the goal of digital transformation processes is to achieve the entire digital twin from design to production. Today it's possible to plan the entire manufacturing process in a fully virtual environment. From designing the layout to visualizing material flows and possible bottlenecks on to simulating the PLC code for the automation hardware. This helps to test and optimize new production lines in order to reduce time, effort, and risk for the real commissioning.We already talked about fully integrated systems and the digital thread which allows manufacturing companies to implement closed loop manufacturing from PLM to the shopfloor. Digitalization for us also means to achieve a deeper integration of the shopfloor. While many enterprises have started to collect data from the shopfloor as a first step we have been implementing basic and advanced automation solutions with PAC which provide a much higher level of equipment control.Being early involved in digitalization standardization initiatives like Industry 4.0 we always had a look at the big picture instead of focusing on particular solutions. To our experience this is most important to us as a solution provider and the industry. Today you need an overall digital transformation strategy. You need to involve cross-functional teams and experts including engineering and production specialists. As a solution provider we internally encouraged and empowered our teams to increase their collaboration and share their knowledge allowing us to discuss overall strategies with customers and prospects.For the industry it's even more difficult. Although they are aware of the need for digital transformation it's much more difficult to define strategies and to transform while maintaining their actual production capabilities during an economic crisis. There is always a liability to look for quick wins but there should be a clear focus on a mid-term digitalization roadmap. This means to determine a precise status of your manufacturing systems and resources. The goal of a digital thread can only be achieved if companies gradually replace outdated and disconnected systems. Second they also need to look at their workforce to hire or qualify skilled resources.Q: China has released its "Made in China 2025" policy, and the domestic manufacturing industry is in urgent need of accelerating its digital transformation. As a solution provider for smart manufacturing, how can you help domestic manufacturers to actively transform? Please share your recent local success stories.A: While operating sites in Asia for more than 20 years and with an own site in Shanghai opened in 2019 we have the experience as well as the manpower to support the domestic manufacturing industry with accelerating its digital transformation. Looking at 40 years of ZNT's history, most of our projects in high-tech industries have always been about digitalization. ZNT has a very experienced implementation and development team offering a flexible and professional solution approach resulting in a high customer satisfaction.Under our worldwide partnerships with Siemens Industry Software including a technology and service partnership we leverage the global experience for the China market which brings significant advantages to our trusted customers whom we are cooperating with long-term. Our teams and Siemens can tap on mutual resources for delivering successful projects in our target industries.As such, in China's emerging semiconductor market, a number of semiconductor manufacturing companies including well-known companies e.g. in Shaoxing, Yangzhou and Qingdao, are benefiting already from our industry experience and trustful cooperation. Another example is a world-leading high-tech glass and ceramics manufacturing group, with whom we entered into a strategic cooperation not long ago and thereby also helped such customer to move forward in his digitalization strategy by implementing the Siemens and ZNT products.Thus, our team feels ready and is very motivated to continue supporting the domestic manufacturing industry in its urgent need of accelerating its digital transformation.ZNT CEO Bernhard MarsonerAaron Chou, ZNT's general manager of Greater China

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) announced today that the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved its emissions reduction targets, making the Company the first semiconductor foundry globally to obtain SBTi validation of climate goals. This marks a critical step in UMC's roadmap to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.SC Chien, Co-President and Chief Sustainability Officer of UMC, said: "In 2021, we became the first semiconductor foundry to pledge net zero, while also gaining membership to RE100. SBTi's approval is a confirmation of our intended pathway to achieve net zero while also ensuring our reduction targets are in line with what the latest climate science says is needed to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. UMC's efforts to combat global warming started more than two decades ago, and we have achieved progressive goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions over the years. We will continue to drive further reductions at our operations as well as work with partners to address value chain emissions as we strive towards our scientifically verified targets."With 2020 as the base year, UMC targets 25% reduction in direct greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1) and indirect emissions from electricity consumption (Scope 2) by 2030. The Company also aims to lower emissions from its value chain (Scope 3) by 12.3% in the same period. These targets are confirmed by the SBTi. UMC was able to complete the validation process in less than six months, demonstrating the Company's solid foundation in and management of greenhouse gas inventory, as well as the determination to honor its climate pledge.The SBTi is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. It defines and promotes best practice in science-based target setting and independently assesses companies' targets. UMC is among the 1,400-plus companies and institutions that have had their science-based targets validated.To minimize emissions associated with both wafer manufacturing and usage of end products, UMC will continue to invest in advanced foundry technologies, and seek ways to boost energy and resource efficiency. As a RE100 member, the Company is actively pursuing its 2030 goal of increasing renewables to 30% of total energy consumption, which will contribute to reductions in Scope 2 emissions. In addition, UMC is engaging with partners in order to reduce upstream and downstream emissions to achieve a low-carbon value chain.

Digi-Key Electronics, which offers the world's largest selection of electronic components in stock for immediate shipment, announced that it has hired Mike Slater as its new vice president of global business development. In his new role, Slater will oversee the company's worldwide customer and supplier development strategy.Slater comes to Digi-Key with more than 25 years of sales, management and business experience. Prior to joining Digi-Key, he served as the president of E-Switch Inc., where he was responsible for the company's global sales across North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Slater also previously served as a general manager at Arrow Electronics, where he built, managed and developed effective sales teams."We are excited to have Mike join Digi-Key's collaborative team culture and share his leadership and expertise in the electronic components market," said Dave Doherty, president of Digi-Key. "Mike's deep background in sales strategy and management aligns with our strategic growth initiatives as we continue to expand our markets around the globe and redefine what it means to be a high service distributor."For more information, or to learn more about careers at Digi-Key, please visit Digi-Key's career page.Mike Slater has joined Digi-Key as its new vice president of global business development