Though neuromorphic computing is still in the early stage, it promises a new way to make AI devices smarter, smaller, and more efficient by incorporating design elements from the study of how human brainswork.Based on the research results from Dr Chris Eliasmith's Theoretical Neuroscience Lab at the University of Waterloo's Systems Engineering Department, Canadian AI startup, Applied Brain Research Inc (ABR), has developed the Nengo platform, which is well known for its ability to program and visually debug neural network models on a variety of computer chip architectures, including the most powerful emerging neuromorphic chips, such as the Intel Loihi and SpiNNaker research chips. Nengo's has a number of unique abilities, such as its ability to translate AI models to run on any of Nengo's supported platforms, from CPUs, GPUs, micro-controllers, FPGAs and super computers, to neuromorphic chips.Peter Suma, co-CEO of ABR, said that Nengo is the easiest to use and most powerful neuromorphic AI development studio for real-time, multi-platform AI system development. "Nengo allows developers to develop an AI model once for all platforms and then with the flip of a switch, run the algorithm on a neuromorphic chip and then benchmark all deployments easily to compare power, speed and accuracy."While commercial neuromorphic chips are not available yet, many organizations are working with pre-release, research versions of the chips from the labs at various companies including Intel and IBM.Suma explained that, compared with using CPUs or GPUs to run AI algorithms, neuromorphic chips have advantages to make a set of AI networks run far more efficiently, such as signal processing AI (voice, video, sensor, control), optimization and certain search problems. For certain applications, the relative gains can exceed 1,000,000 times better performance for power and/or speed.He emphasized that neuromorphics applied to real-time vision could be a game changer for edge vision. Within the next few years several new neuromorphic chips are expected to be announced, quickening the pace of development."One area where the next advancement is likely to emerge could be in vision where millions of neurons are needed to make vision chips that are more efficient than GPUs. We are likely only one or two generations away from that point," he said. "With all these hardware innovations coming, being able to capture the new hardware advantages while not having to redevelop all your AI networks is really important, this is one area where Nengo shines."In light of this, ABR's Nengo is ready to serve developers to take advantage of these exciting new hardware platforms by extending their AI network assets into neuromorphics through its legendary multi-platform support.ABR has patented a series of algorithms discovered from years of studying brain computation and is using them to increase the efficiency of AI processing in devices to serve makers of devices by making their devices smarter (running more AI in the device than before) and/or by making their existing AI more efficient to increase responsiveness. As an example, ABR developed a mathematical method for processing signals, such as speech or sensor data, in an AI network that their scientists formally, mathematically, proved is the optimal way to do it. Using this discovery, which ABR added to Nengo, ABR set a world record for the lowest power and smallest AI network for speech command word recognition. Devices that respond to voice commands (such as wearables, phones and cars) can do no better for longer battery life and for the fastest, most accurate voice command recognition implementation, than using ABR's networks."By using our brain-inspired AI methods and Nengo, we can make existing AI systems much smaller, much lower-power, and very often more accurate, thereby reducing the size and cost of the chip and memory needed to process the AI on the device," Suma said.With these advantages, ABR is now seeking device maker customers, in a bid to help them make their devices smarter and as efficient at processing as is mathematically possible.Peter Suma, co-CEO of ABR

The COVID-19 pandemic has undersocred the world's over-reliance on China's manufacturing capacity, and accelerated the diversification of the global supply chain, with many firms seeking to building or already building more manufacturing plants in South East Asia. Such a "China+" production diversification strategy presents the nultinational corporations (MNC) with plenty of new opportunities and challenges - in terms of operation, compliance and environment.The China+ strategy has already been implemented by many manufacturers in order to counter increasing labor costs in China and the problems surfacing during the US-China trade war. Now the pandemic bodes a new era for manufacturing, where China and ASEAN will integrate more to a certain extent, accelerating recovery of the regional supply chain.The ACFTA signed between ASEAN and China effectively reduces the costs of accessing Chinese suppliers from ASEAN and improves efficiency in production. Manufacturers in the ASEAN region can import raw materials and components needed without paying extra tariffs or going through unnecessary external obstacles.The cooperation between China and ASEAN is significant because ASEAN is a main supplier of semi-finished goods that are shipped to China for final processing for exports to the Western countries. In the other way around, China provides raw material and components to ASEAN manufacturers. It's natural to that many companies, such as those from Japan, are diversifying investment risks in Asia by investing in both China and ASEAN.China and ASEAN are now more interdependent than ever. Without trade with ASEAN and its supply chain, it's almost impossible for the Chinese economy to fully recover from the pandemic. The regional value chain connecting both sides is also on track to recovery.ASEAN, with its geographical proximity, has been deepening its relation with China over the past two decades, and became China's biggest trade partner in 2020, with the total trade value hitting CNY4.74 trillion (US$ 731.9 billion) and growing 7% on year. China, for 12 consecutive years, has been ASEAN's biggest trade partner, too. Despite the pandemic, the great potential and resilience between the two trading partners has sent out quite a positive message to the world regarding global trade.The Southeast Asian economy revolving around China has long been the epicenter of manufacturing and providing huge economic momentum for the global economy.As for now, it's not easy for businesses to leave China. There's still a lack of skilled labor, supplier network, and logistics infrastructure in the ASEAN countries, which will take years to catch up. However, businesses embracing the "China+ASEAN" strategy can better accommodate themselves in the face of rising labor costs and the tension between the US and China.Relocating the supply chain will incur some direct costs. There are also pros and cons over setting up operation in destination countries, and the production ecosystem is only getting more and more complex. The pandemic has led businesses to develop more localized production, but localization could diminish competence of business, bring up consumer prices, and render business more vulnerable to regional shocks like natural disasters or socio-political upheavals.

Demand for ABF substrates from chip vendors has been strong, wiht new orders placed now unlikely to be delivered until 2023. Some chip vendors have offered higher prices trying to jump the queue, but ABF substrate suppliers have had to turn them down because of their tight capacity. Chipmakers are also striving to secure supply for aQFN leadframe, with the segment's order visibility already extending to February 2022. Memory prices are poised to rise in third-quarter 2021, with NAND flash pricing to climb faster than DRAM.ABF substrate suppliers see clear order visibility through 2023: Taiwan ABF substrate makers have been running their production lines at full capacity, with new orders unlikely to be fulfilled until 2023, according to industry sources.Chipmakers striving to obtain stable aQFN leadframe supply: Chipmakers including MediaTek, Qualcomm and Realtek Semiconductor are striving to secure stable supply of leadframes for use in aQFN packaging, with related leadframe suppliers already seeing order visibility extended to February 2022, according to industry sources.NAND flash prices to rise faster than DRAM in 3Q21: Contract market prices for NAND flash memory are poised to rise faster than those for DRAM chips in the third quarter of 2021, according to industry sources.

In today's world of computer vision AI, there is a significant challenge of running AI models on the limited compute power of edge device chipsets, as they are typically too large, process heavy and consume significant power. Furthermore, there is the rising costs of IT infrastructure (e.g. cloud) to support AI models, which is not green-tech friendly, as well as the costly process of spending months to manually optimizing AI models, while trying to maintain accuracy.To break down these barriers, Deeplite created its unique software platform called Deeplite Neutrino, which is an intelligent optimization engine for Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) that can be deployed on constrained edge-based products and more efficiently within cloud servers. Deeplite Neutrino helps AI experts automatically optimize high-performance DNN models to satisfy target computation constraints. The engine inputs large, trained DNN models to produce smaller, highly-efficient models while preserving the accuracy. This brings significant value to manufacturing sectors which typically have a variety of edge devices, such as cameras for automated optical inspection and robotics arms for rapid product sorting and packaging, that are powered by different processors (e.g. CPU, MCU and RISC-V). In order to run the AI with improved inference and operational efficiency, the DNN models need to be optimized, with enhanced throughput, while maintaining accuracy.Deeplite Neutrino provides user-friendly software to generate compact and efficient AI modelsDeeplite, the Canadian start-up, provides a software-based AI-Driven Optimizer to make DNNs faster, smaller and energy-efficient to run on edge device and more cost effectively in a cloud environment. Today, there is a significant challenge of running machine vision and perception AI applications on the limited compute power of edge devices and their associated chipsets.The company's software product named Deeplite Neutrino provides a unique on-premise tool for AI engineering and data science teams, which accelerates their respective machine learning operations workflow for deep learning models such as image classification, object detection and segmentation. With an easy-to-use optimization solution, OEMs and chip manufacturers can leverage Deeplite Neutrino to rapidly produce highly compact, high performance models to deploy in production on a multitude of hardware platforms. The automated functionality of Deeplite Neutrino can be as simple as the following workflow:*Input the pretrained model, associated dataset and specific performance KPIs, e.g. desired model accuracy and size. *Press start and watch Neutrino output a highly optimized model with acceptable accuracy. *Deploy your optimized model to your target hardware devices via the associated compiler and inference engine.Showcasing of automatic optical inspection and robotic fast-time-to-classifying systemsThe current popular Industrial 4.0 use cases powered by Deeplite Neutrino are computer vision-based for a variety of edge devices such as cameras, robotics and drones. One of the most popular AI applications is automatic optical inspection which will accelerate quality control inspection during the manufacturing process. The need to have faster inference at the camera to identify faults in the production line will save significant operational costs, increase customer orders and enhance customer satisfaction. Customers will utilize Deeplite Neutrino to drive efficiencies for compressing and deploying object detection and segmentation AI models for the quality control application on low power devices e.g. cameras. The same applies to fast-time-to-classifying images via robots for rapid identification of sorting packages on a manufacturing conveyor belt.Deeplite is currently working with customers in North America, Taiwan, Japan and select countries in Europe. Thanks to the close collaboration with the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, Deeplite is focused on engaging with Taiwan customers. As a world leader in hardware manufacturing and a strong foundation for intelligent technology development, particularly in ICT and semiconductors, Taiwan is a great fit for Deeplite's market focus. Furthermore, Taiwan is seeking to develop a world-leading AI on Device solution, which incorporates both hardware and software collaboration. This aligns extremely well with Deeplite's Neutrino software value to chip manufacturers, edge device manufacturers (OEMs) and within manufacturing processes. Deeplite looks forward to building a strong market presence in Taiwan.Charles Marsh, CCO of Deeplite

Chinese handset vendors are turning pessimistic about shipment prospects amid tumbling demand in India where COVID cases have been soaring. Chinese handset vendors have now further cut their overall shipment goals for 2021. In China, LCD panel makers are increasing capacity at their existing 8.6G and 10.5G lines, rasing concerns about oversupply. In Taiwan, Micron is set soon to ramp up production at a new fab for DRAM built using 1-alpha-nm node.Xiaomi, Oppo and Realme cut shipment goals further: China-based handset brands, including Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme and Honor, reportedly have slashed their shipment goals further for 2021, having already lowered their targets earlier in May, according to industry sources.China LCD panel makers to ramp up output from existing 8.6G and 10.5G fabs: China-based LCD panel makers have continued to ramp up capacities from their existing 8.6G and 10.5G fabs although most of them have said they would not establish new LCD panel lines.Micron to scale up 1αnm chip output: Micron Technology will soon open its new fab dubbed A3 in Taichung, central Taiwan, with the additional capacity set to boost the output of its DRAM chips built using a newer 1-alpha-nm node, according to industry sources.

The US and China have been clearly in a standoff, sparring over tariffs and technologies. This has resulted in supply chain reshuffle for some industries. US president Joe Biden signed an executive order on February 24, 2021 mandating a review of critical product supply chains in the US with the aim of bringing manufacturing back the US and rebuilding localized supply chains. Taiwan-based manufacturers caught between the two giants may not afford to choose sides, but they can still find room for survival.Since 2017, the US Department of Commerce has implemented export control on more than 500 Chinese enterprises and rejected 34 Chinese acquisitions of US companies. The US Department of Justice has charged 63 individuals for espionage and participation in China's Operation Fox Hunt. The US Department of Defense has named 35 high-tech firms as entities owned by, controlled by, or affiliated with China's government, military, or defense industry. The US Department of the Treasury requires that US citizens must divest their holdings of Chinese military-affiliated companies by November 11, 2021. It also has sanctioned 231 Chinese individuals and entities, including 36 Chinese and Hong Kong officials.US and China are engaged in a tech warPhoto: Digitimes file photoPost-Tiananmen era and tech war eraWhat are implications of the US government's actions against China? Western countries slapped economic sanctions against China after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on democracy, hitting hard China's economy and society at that time. China had to undertake a series of reform measures to weather the crisis. China's economic growth registered at 2.3% in 2020, the lowest since the start of China's reform and opening up in 1977. It may seem that China sustained impact from the trade conflict, tech war and COVID-19. However, many research institutions expect China's economic growth to rebound to the range between 7.0% and 9.0% in 2021. This indicates that China's economy made up of immense manufacturing, finance, digital economy, real estate and service sectors still has the potential to maintain high growth, which is quite different from the weakness it experienced in 1989.China's GDP amounted to CNY101.5 trillion (US$15.89 trillion) in 2020. Despite falling short of the US GDP at US$21.4 trillion, China's efforts toward and investments into economic development and technological advances are not to be overlooked. China may still be on course to continuing high GDP growth. More data indicate that China will not easily be defeated by Western containment with its enormous scale. China's total imports and exports came to US$4.6463 trillion in 2020. Its foreign exchange reserves totaled US$3.2165 trillion. China has 62.64 million ounces of gold on reserve and owns US$1.054 trillion of US government bonds. According to Yifu Lin, dean of Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University, China's economy is likely to surpass that of the US in a decade. It will get to a GDP per capita half that of the US and an economic scale twice that of the US in three decades. The US will then no longer have a technology stranglehold over China.The US cutting high-tech supply to China has indeed exerted impact to Chinese firms including Huawei and SMIC in the short term. However, China has a massive domestic market and a huge number of foreign firms running production bases in the country. More importantly, it has a strong determination to drive independent innovations. It is therefore addressing challenges from the outside world with "internal circulation" and "independent technology innovation" initiatives and actively undertaking regional development plans and Pilot Free Trade Zone projects including Hainan Free Trade Port, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Integrated Regional Development of Yangtze River Delta.On top of that, China is also promoting the development of key industrial parks in State-Level New Areas and Industrial Demonstration Zones in the central, western and northeastern provinces with an aim to enhance the country's ability to absorb the impact from manufacturers moving production out of China. It is unlikely a smart move for overseas-funded and Taiwan-based enterprises to completely pull out of China. For example, the firms that have relocated some of their production bases to India in view of the US-China trade conflict are seeing impacts from the recent surge in COVID infections in India.G2 battling for tech supremacyThe US is wary of China's rise mainly because China has discovered the secret behind the success of the US - building national strength by investing in fundamental scientific research. By doing the same, China will be able to not only make use of technologies but also develop technologies. Some Chinese enterprises, both private and state-funded, may have indeed gained access to technologies through improper means, infringing on Western companies' intellectual property (IP) rights. If the US, Europe and Japan are to completely stop China from copying their products or infringing on their IP rights, China will have no choice but to expediate its independent technology development. Ancient China was once a world leader in science and technology, and modern China could become a world leader again.China's Department of the Treasury, State Taxation Administration, National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly announced preferential tax policies for integrated chip makers and software enterprises at year-end 2020. IC makers producing semiconductors of 28nm and under are exempt from income tax for 10 years. Those producing 65nm and under semiconductors are exempt from income tax for five years and enjoy a preferential 25% tax rate for the following five years. The National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce released Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment, which contains a total of 1,235 items, with a focus on driving foreign investments into key technologies related to advanced manufacturing and modern service industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, IC and blockchain.China R&D expensesTotal expensesCNY2442.6 bAs a proportion of GDP2.4%R&D typeBasic research5.5%Applications11.%Tech83.3%ExecutorsEnterprises77.4%Government13.7%Academic7.4%Note: GDP figure from 2020; breakdown numbers as of 2018 Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China, Compiled by Digitimes, May 2021US R$D expensesTotal expensesUS$656 bAs a proportion of GDP2.94%R&D typeBasic research16.6%Applications19.2%Tech64.1%ExecutorsEnterprises70.3%Government22.1%Academic3.4%Non-profit organization4.1%Note: Total R&D expenses for 2019; breakdown numbers based on 2018 expensesSource: NSF, compiled by Digitimes, May 2021As a matter of fact, China's research and development spending climbed from CNY1.42 trillion in 2015 to CNY2.44 trillion in 2019 and its basic research funding nearly doubled. According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China moved up from No. 29 in 2015 to No. 14 in 2020 mainly as a result of its leaping advances in basic research and applied research. Not only has China made progress in quantum information science, FeSe, stem cells and synthetic biology, but it is also endeavoring toward AI chips, operating systems, new energy vehicles and next-generation display technology.China's growing scientific research strength has given rise to more than 200,000 small and medium tech businesses as well as high-tech corporations in the country. There are 173 high-tech companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Science and Technology Innovation Board. The startup scene in China is also thriving with burgeoning makerspaces, tech business incubators, accelerators and university science parks. They don't feel the squeeze the US is putting on China. China's national science and technology programs and key laboratories are backed by its immense research funding. They are actively recruiting tech talent from abroad by rolling out new work permit and visa application systems for foreigners and conferring the ownerships or rights of long-term use of job-related scientific and technological achievements on scientific researchers.The world's factory vs the world's policeChina's top priority is to build up a strong foundation for high-tech innovations. This is the only way to counter the tech blockade by the West. It is also the motive behind China's 10-year action plan for basic research starting 2021. The aim is to enhance innovation and planning capabilities and inspire creativity. China will not lag behind Taiwan in basic scientific research. In fact, it stands a chance of overtaking the US in certain areas.Taiwan-based vendors rely heavily on China to do the processing and manufacturing for their products which are then sold across the globe. Taiwan-based vendors supplying electronics components, computers, electronics and optical devices mostly set up operation bases in central, south, southwest and east China. Smartphones produced by Taiwan-based vendors on OEM basis in China and exported to the US are virtually all iPhones. Unless they are required by their customers or they have no other choice, Taiwan-based vendors are unlikely to cease their China production and business in haste.On top of that, products assembled in China including smartphones, notebook computers and tablets need upstream and midstream components supplied from Taiwan. Increasing demand from China's assembly business actually spurs Taiwan's exports of electronics components, ICT products and production machinery. Will production shift out of China to avoid tariffs shake China's status as the world's factory? If the anwer is yes, what are the impacts to China? China has established advantages in supply chains and it will not be easily replaced by other countries including ASEAN member states, India and Mexico. Even the maturing electronics supply chain in ASEAN countries can only satisfy part of the world's demand and can hardly take over China. Vendors that leave China will lose their grasp on China's upstream and downstream supply chain and China's consumer market dynamics. They will miss out on the opportunity should China's economy really surpass that of the US 10 years from now.As the word's police, the US does not want to see a strong China dictating world order, especially in technology and industry where it is leader. It is under the pressure of being overtaken by China. That is why the Biden administration proposed the US$2.3 trillion American Job Plan to revitalize semiconductor, electric vehicle (EV), new energy and broadband industries and cutting-edge technology development.China has not seen large-scale supply chain relocation out of the country since the COVID-19 outbreak. Academic researchers think this is due to difficulties in shifting capital, infrastructure and labor, in addition to new supply chain adjustments and regulation compliance issues to be addressed when moving operation to another region. To manufacturers, relocation introduces new uncertainties, not to mention cost increases.Taiwan, as OEM for multinational brands and upstream component and intermediate goods supplier to assemblers in China, must increase its research and development spending while making efforts to incubate and retain professionals. By doing so, Taiwan's hardware component manufacturing process will keep advancing and the Taiwan industry can thereby survive and thrive.

As the modern smart connected devices are getting smaller, thinner, and supporting more stringent protocols such as 5G, GPS, UWB, BLE, and Wi-Fi 6, they need high-performance timing solutions that are accurate, scalable and able to fully integrate with electronics chips; however, it's something that traditional quartz timing is practically unable to do.With an aim to transform the almost 100-year-old quartz-based timing market, Canada-based Stathera, Inc. has developed innovative MEMS-based solutions to address these unmet requirements for wearable, IoT, smartphone and other connected devices.George Xereas, Co-founder & CEO of Stathera, explained that the number of smart, connected devices are expected to surpass 74 billion by 2025, and as with every electronic device, they need at least one MHz frequency reference to support telecommunications (e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) and one kHz frequency reference to serves as a the Real-Time-Clock (RTC) or support stand-by modes.But quartz-based oscillators provide only a single MHz or kHz output, requiring at least 2 oscillators per system, which consumes significant PCB area and increase BOM cost.Also, quartz oscillators are not CMOS compatible, and cannot scale or be integrated on-chip. In addition, their accuracy and performance are severely affected by environmental factors including temperature, humidity, vibration and shock. This results in premature failure, shorter battery life, and higher system cost.In order to solve these problems, "our world's first, true-dual-output MEMS timing solution provides both the MHz and kHz output from a single resonator", stressed Xereas. "This enables the replacement of two legacy oscillators allowing for the simplification of system design, reduction of power consumption, reduction in printed-circuit-board (PCB) area, reduction in bill-of-materials (BOM) and reduction in system cost."In a wearable application against typical quartz-timing for example, Stathera's oscillator solution can provide 40x more resistance to shock and vibration, 90% reduction in PCB board-space, and 80% reduction in the associated BOM count."When you couple this with the reduction in cost, lower current consumption, and longer battery life, you will find that Stathera's product offering brings significant benefits to both the customer and their system", Xereas said.At present, Stathera is in the process of commercializing its MEMS-based timing products, and the 1st generation of devices are under development. Meanwhile, the company has completed the R&D phase and validated the MEMS performance with multiple R&D builds, and the companion ASIC is currently being developed.Speaking of Taiwan, Xereas pointed out that Taiwan is a vital hub for hardware electronic devices. "We aim to develop partnerships and secure design-in opportunities with local customers (OEMs and ODMs), that are interested in adopting our dual-output MHz and kHz MEMS oscillators into their system designs."The company is also interested in collaborating with local IC and reference design manufacturers on next-generation timing specification for their chips to ensure next generation OEM & market requirements are met, and towards SoC integration of Stathera's embedded MEMS resonator. In addition, channel partners and strategic investment partners are also the possibilities that they are looking for.George Xereas, Co-founder & CEO of StatheraPhoto: Company

Apple's supply chain is gearing up for the upcoming iPhones. Apple is expected to adopt flexible AMOLED for all of its next-generation iPhones to be launched later this year and will outpace Samsung to become the top buyer of AMOLED smartphone displays this year. TSMC has kicked off production for the A15 processors. Meanwhile, chip shortages are expected to undermine server production at ODMs through the end of the year.Apple to outpace Samsung as top buyer of smartphone AMOLED displays: Apple is expected to unseat Samsung Electronics as the largest buyer of AMOLED displays for smartphones in 2021, as new iPhones for the year reportedly will all adopt flexible AMOLED screens, pushing up the penetration of such displays in iPhone devices to around 80%, according to industry sources.TSMC kicking off production for new iPhone chips: TSMC has kicked off production for Apple's next-generation iPhone processor dubbed A15, and will see demand for the chip surpass that for its predecessor last year in scale, according to industry sources.Server ODMs see shipments disrupted by chip shortages: Server ODMs have seen their shipments disrupted by the shortages of power management ICs, network switches, and other chips and components, which are unlikely to ease until the end of this year, according to industry sources.

In view of intensifying US-China confrontation and Taiwan actively promoting its New Southbound Policy, many Taiwan-based suppliers intend to meet increasing capacity demand by relocating manufacturing to Southeast Asia and building new industrial clusters there to tap the demographic and geographic advantages as well as rapidly growing market demand in the region. They look to replicate their experiences in China and make Southeast Asia the next world factory that will support rising needs as the global supply chain makes transitions to accommodate "G2" (US vs China) developments. Vietnam and Thailand, neighboring China, will be Taiwan-based suppliers' first choices for their move into Southeast Asia, followed by Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They will not include Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia in their consideration due to political instability in those countries unless they have no other choices.Some suppliers note that manufacturers choose to build new production bases in Vietnam and Thailand in part for their transport infrastructure. Being able to transport goods via their road networks will make up for the incomplete supply chain ecosystems in Vietnam or Thailand.The shift to regional manufacturing has given rise to the new trend - short supply chains. The supply chains in Vietnam and Thailand are near completion after years of effort. Furthermore, component suppliers' added demand in recent years are largely for automotive and home appliance parts, rather than ICT devices and applications, which allows them to better connect with Thailand's local industry development. Vietnam and Thailand are therefore the ideal choices for Taiwan-based suppliers foraying into Southeast Asia.Recent macro-environment changes are driving an increasing number of suppliers to invest in Vietnam. This is beginning to spur a rise in land costs and an imbalance in labor supply and demand, according to industry observers. In particular, small- and medium-sized suppliers not only face difficulty in land acquisition but also have to compete for human resources with large enterprises that can offer more attractive compensations and benefits such as Samsung Electronics and Foxconn. Suppliers planning to set up operation in Vietnam need to take a lot of factors into consideration.Thailand will be more suitable for some small- and medium-sized suppliers as it has a substantial number of migrant workers that can provide a relatively more stable labor supply. Labor turnover has also improved thanks to its recent economic developments. The Thai government has been offering incentives to drive developments in motor vehicle and electric vehicle (EV) parts as well as EV batteries, which overlap with the areas Taiwan-based manufacturers are actively expanding into. This is another factor that makes Thailand appealing to Taiwan-based suppliers.Many suppliers indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to put off or suspend their plans to move into Southeast Asia. When they strategize about building new production bases in Southeast Asia, aside from customer requirements and supply chain considerations, they should also gain an understanding of what preferential treatments and investment incentives Southeast Asian governments may be putting forward to attract manufacturers looking to set up production outside of China as there are all kinds of different offers on the table, industry observers say.

Taiwan-based networking device assemblers continue to relocate their production lines from China back to Taiwan or to Southeast Asia, despite a recent surge in COVID-19 infections locally.James Wang, president of network communication equipment provider Sercomm, once noted that China had been rivalless until the US stepped up countermeasures, disrupting China's economic scale.Supply chains would not be relocating production out of China if it were not for the US-China trade war, and US president Joe Biden is not reversing the direction that his predecessor Donald Trump had set.Taiwan-based network communication equipment providers are of a smaller scale and can act more swiftly in response to changes. When the US-China trade conflict spread to the network communication equipment sector in 2018, suppliers flocked to Taiwan and Southeast Asia to set up production bases. According to Gemtek chairman Howard Chen, three months after the company made the decision, new production facilities were in place. Chen quipped that it was the first time he felt like a big spender. This also reflected how much pressure network communication equipment providers came under in the face of the trade war tariffs.Apart from Taiwan, Vietnam is the most important production hub to network communication equipment providers, including Gemtek, Wistron NeWeb Corporation (WNC), Arcadyan and Hitron. Among them, WNC and Arcadyan have plans to build their second facilities in addition to their current ones in Vietnam, with the new capaacity scheduled to be up and running in the second half of 2021. The new production lines will contribute to growth in the share of their capacity outside of China.According to WNC chairman Haydn Hsieh, the company's second facility in Vietnam is about 90% complete. Installation of the production lines is scheduled to start in June and they are expected to be churning out products in the third quarter of this year. WNC already has customers placing orders specifically for products to be manufactured at the new facility. WNC's Vietnam capacity will ramp up at the highest speed over the next six to 12 months and the share among WNC's total capacity will grow from 10-15% at present to 20-25% by early 2022.Aside from its second facility in Vietnam, which will begin production in the second half of 2021, WNC's second plant in Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) is also under construction, with equipment installation planned for the second quarter of 2022 and production to begin in the third quarter. By then, WNC will have relatively equal proportions of capacity in Vietnam, Kunshan (China) and Taiwan. With the new facilities up and running, WNC's capacity utilization will be much better in the first quarter of 2022, which will help optimize its cost structure. Arcadyan is also building its second facility, which will add to its capacity starting the fourth quarter of this year. According to Arcadyan, the construction remains on schedule despite the recent increase in COVID-19 cases. Arcadyan's new facility is planned with three times the capacity of its first plant in Vietnam. Its China capacity will not decrease as a result of the production expansion in Vietnam so the ratio between its China and Vietnam capacity will change from 70:30 to 50:50 by year-end 2021.In contrast to network communication equipment providers that are actively expanding capacity in Vietnam, notebook PC manufacturers that do not sustain pressure from heavier import tariffs have maintained their wait-and-see attitude since the late stage of Trump's term. They said that when the US-China trade conflict was escalating in 2019, notebook PC manufacturers were urged by customers to respond. They all prepared contingency plans to set up production bases in Southeast Asia or Taiwan. However, their plans remain on paper to this day.Quanta, Compal, Wistron and Inventec all have assembly lines in Taiwan. Some of the notebook PCs Compal and Inventec supply to their US customers are assembled in Taiwan. They both had plans to expand their capacity in Taiwan in 2019 but their customers did not ramp up their orders. Quanta had its Linkou, northern Taiwan plant ready while Wistron was prepared to start production in the Philippines. Neither of them have proceeded to volume production.Compal's Vietnam factory is the only one that is in operation outside of Taiwan, rolling out products for a US customer that keeps requesting for additional capacity but not at a rate as fast as what the customer had proposed earlier.According to the manufacturers, notebook PCs sell at razor-thin profit margins and include more than 1,000 components, making it difficult to shift production. Their customers mostly choose to cope with changes by staying put to avoid running up costs.