Manz AG is the wet chemistry process leader in Taiwan and China for production of displays panels, printed circle boards and advanced semiconductor packaging technology. The product offerings include solutions for cleaning, coating, plating, etching and stripping of various substrates, and the production automations. As Industrial 4.0 revolution and smart manufacturing swept through the global manufacturing industries, Manz leveraging intelligent technologies, production equipment and modular software design provide streamlined production automation systems to help Asia's customers for quickly expanding manufacturing capacity and production lines. Outstanding cost performance ratio and optimal productive time ensure excellent returns with consistent product quality.In an exclusive interview, Robert Lin, General Manager of Manz Taiwan, talked about the new development of Manz product strategy before Touch Taiwan 2021 exhibition. Over two decades, Manz delivered automation equipment to Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. Nowadays, Manz's intelligent production solutions provide the automated handling services for display panels ranging from 4-inch to G10.5 generation line for big 8K TV manufacturing tasks. Moreover, the tailored solutions to fit different requirements of various customers are most welcomed.Manz highlights intelligent vertical handling systems for display industryManz is benefiting from the strong hardware and software design capability of its high-tech engineering teams. The new intelligent vertical handling systems showcase unique features with high stability, high availability, low glass breakage rate and high precision vertical handling capability. More than this, the teams create a close partnership between the company and the customers. The increasing trend towards automation in the production processes of Asian customers, Manz uses its long-standing technological expertise to collaborate with customers to provide tailored production solutions and tight integration in the processes. Following the company's successful development of intelligent production automation projects, the minimal breakage rates are achieved through material and chemical transport optimized to the process and substrate. Manz has gained customer trust from around the world.Moreover, these new intelligent production solutions are leveraging PC-based controller from Beckhoff, another Germany-based automation firm to utilize open architecture and popular IT protocols as a design basis. The systems are providing high precision positioning features by an accurate replica of human hand positions, even at high throughput, minimal breakage rates are achieved through material and chemical transport optimized to the process. There are four major unique features highlights including real-time data collecting and analyzing, modular software design, high stability and great integration of Electro-Mechanical Integration systems. The solutions will help customer to achieve shortening time-to-market goal.The automated projects in Taiwan are mainly focus on upgrades of 8.5th generation ("G8.5") facility. In China, due to the lack of flexibility and cost concerns, the new investment of G10.5 panel production lines are becoming more conservative. But the G8.6 investments are getting more attractive in China. Although, various automation solution providers with unique strength in the market already, the high value-added of Manz product offerings attract key customers because the requirements of high precision, speed and stability through long time establishment of corporate credits. Despite a high level of exposure to US-China tensions, European vendors like Manz still have good potential in China market while China panel makers beginning to focus more on high-end and advanced equipment.Taiwan panel makers show innovative Micro and Mini LED displayLin highlights smart manufacturing is a technology massively driven by automation. Thanks to the cross-strait customers welcomed AI-based technology to ramp up the speed of manufacturing optimization during the course of industrial upgrading. In the other hand, recently, the new display technology, especially Mini and Micro LED technologies, has emerged as a significantly driving force to push advanced production solutions. It is foreseeing the mass production of Mini LED display modules in this year. Taiwan panel makers are ready to launch mini LED backlighting applications targeting the smartphone, touchpad and TV market. And the Micro-LED display is also under developing to solve the technology challenges of Mass Transfer issues. The future growth of Taiwan panel makers is relying on this.From perspectives of production solutions, the change of process equipment making mini LED panels is limited. During development of the processes, the use of the equipment in the process of Color Filter and TFT Array may be not much changed. The automation solutions perform good results including robust production, easy operation and high reliability, as well as production yield. For the coming Micro LED display technology, Manz is highly participating to design the solutions for proofing in the experimental production lines.5G technology upbeat IC Substrate demandsManz provides wet chemical processing solutions for the Printed Circuit Boards. In the higher end PCB sector, there is strong demands from IC Substrate leveraging the hot trend of 5G technology. Taiwan-based IC substrate providers are poised to enjoy a particularly strong orders in the first half of 2021, thanks to robust demand for high-end substrates PCB boards. This is benefiting to Manz production solutions in the semiconductor production solutions. As the advanced packaging and testing solutions getting more sophisticated, Manz is maintaining the continuous investments of production solutions for further increase the competitiveness and win the market. An explosive opportunities of electric vehicle and lithium-ion batteryChina is the world's largest electric vehicle market. Taiwan is also continuing to expand its scale of operations and grow into the lithium-ion battery cells and modules as well as for the assembly of battery packs for electric vehicle industry. These are huge business opportunities. Manz already entered into a strategic cooperation in the field of lithium-ion battery systems and portfolio enabling innovative, integrated turnkey production solutions. Meanwhile, Manz Taiwan is joining the MIH Alliance to jointly build an Electric Vehicle open platform for entering this potential business and introduce Manz automation solutions to Asia maker for gaining next boost in the business.For further highlighting the new development of Manz production solutions and automation systems, during 2021 Touch Taiwan events, Manz will showcase at its booth a full range of products at Nangang Exhibition Hall 1 at fourth floor, booth no. M520. Manz sales and product teams warmly welcome you to visit the booth to experience more innovative solutions.Robert Lin, General Manager of Manz Taiwan

With the advent of the audio-visual era, whether for consumer use or commercial applications in retail, F&B or factory manufacturing, the demand for high image quality is ever-increasing. In recent years, moreover, breakthroughs in LED display technology have been rapidly and successively made, resulting in brightness, color gamut, and color contrast that are greatly superior to that of LCD displays.Focusing exclusively on the high-quality, high-performance mini/micro-LED market, Yenrich Technology Corporation has recently launched ultra-fine pitch LED solutions ahead of market contenders. Through its advanced technology, comprehensive services and extensive product line, it will be able to reduce system operator development cost and shorten time-to-market, allowing it to grasp next-gen business opportunities with its highly competitive advantages.The global market for large-size displays has been shifting since 2018 as LED screens that used to be installed outdoors began to move indoors, providing users with better display technology. In the past, indoor displays were mostly comprised of LCDs. Li-yuan Huang, VP of Sales and Marketing at Yenrich, nevertheless pointed out that LCDs designed with backlight architecture have certain limitations in terms of both color contrast and brightness. With regard to brightness, for instance, even though mini-LED light sources have become increasingly prevalent in backlight modules these past couple of years, the increased brightness - from 500 nits to 1000 nits - is still far from comparable with the 2000 nits of Yenrich's LED products. The lifetime, screen area and transportation convenience of LCD displays are moreover inferior to that of LED displays, therefore it is expected that mini-LED displays will dominate even in the market for high-end, large-size commercial displays.Li-yuan Huang went on to say that although LEDs will be the mainstream in the market for indoor / large-size displays, this does not mean that the technology can be directly replicated and applied to this field. Due to the different viewing distances between outdoor and indoor scenarios, user's perception of display resolution also differs. At present, the pixel pitch of outdoor LED displays is 10mm-2.5mm, but if used indoors, an even smaller pitch must be adopted, usually between 1-2.5mm. The flip-chip RGB mini-LED die used by Yenrich enables the company to make ultra-fine pitch screens with pitch below 1mm.Li-yuan Huang further indicated that under the demand for high-end audio-visual and digital transformation, boutique flagship stores, government agencies, and large enterprises have all begun to install LED screens in interior spaces for marketing advertisements or war room use. This trend has completely opened up the market for ultra-fine pitch LED displays, and garnered the interest of related industry peers. Most manufacturers, however, are currently still using conventional face-up LED dies to build their displays, a technology that can only achieve a minimum pitch of 0.8mm. In comparison, Yenrich's industry-leading four-in-one flip-chip RGB mini-LED package can achieve a pitch of 0.6mm or even smaller to further improve LED screen resolution.Yenrich Technology Corporation, a member of Ennostar Group, utilizes flip-chip RGB mini-LED dies as an important weapon for achieving ultra-fine-pitch displays. The high-quality flip-chip dies are the achievement of years of development conducted by EPISTAR, another member of Ennostar Group. Ever since it was founded, Yenrich has been focusing on next-gen packaging and expanding its market share with the flip-chip dies developed by EPISTAR. As all relevant materials and technologies are now readied, the company has been receiving orders from several end-customers. Li-yuan Huang stated that, in addition to advanced mini-LED packaging technology, Yenrich is also committed to providing clients with various solutions. Currently, the company has established joint ventures with partners in mainland China to offer customers a variety of advanced mini-LED packaging services and solutions, including advanced mini-LED packaging production lines and SMT lines equipped with capacity of 800kk monthly. Customer products can enter mass production upon completion of design, greatly shortening time-to-market.Even as it enhances its technology over production, Yenrich has also actively engaged in configuring its IP deployment. With confirmation in 2016 the company's mission is to produce high-brightness and high-tech displays, Yenrich has been continuously applying for patents for its research and development outcomes. At such, currently the company's ultra-fine pitch and advanced mini-LED packaging technology has been under patent protection in both the European and American markets. At this year's Touch Taiwan exhibition, Yenrich's new technological prowess will be unveiled. 0.46mm ultra-fine pitch products can be combined with 5G technology to make 8K resolution LED screens, stretching the limits of current LED technology. Another 0404 RGB LED package developed by Yenrich focuses on surface treatment technology, and is able to enhance visual uniformity while in off-state and correct color shift of the LED screen, creating a spectacular visual experience.Li-yuan Huang explained that, since its establishment, Yenrich has been deeply committed to creating high-quality products with advanced technology. As past research and development has now yielded fruitful results, the company has been able to offer solutions that indisputably lead the market in terms of technology. Moving forward into the future, Yenrich will continue to uphold existing strategies, utilizing its advantages of advanced packaging technology and comprehensive production line to provide customers with the strongest and most reliable support.Yenrich Technology Corporation has launched ultra-fine pitch LED solutions ahead of market contenders

Components shortages have been troubling the notebook sector, with ODMs and brand vendors set to see shipments fall short of demand by 30-50% in second-quarter 2021. Chromebooks have been among devices that have seen extremely tight supply of eMMC storage they need - a result of short supply of NAND flash controllers. Meanwhile, panel maker AUO has entered the supply chain of Samsung's microLED TVs by providing backplanes.Notebook makers see 2Q21 shipments fall short of orders by up to 50%: The supply of notebooks particularly that of Chromebooks remains constrained in the second quarter, with ODMs and brand vendors expected to see shipments fall short of orders by 30-50%, according to industry sources.NAND flash controller supply remains tight: The supply of NAND flash controllers remains tight, constraining shipments of eMMC storage devices and SATA SSDs, according to industry sources.AUO breaks into supply chain for Samsung microLED TVs: AU Optronics (AUO) has cut into the supply chain for Samsung's microLED TVs by providing glass backplanes, with shipments to kick off in the second half of 2021, according to industry sources.

Smartization has become a critical initiative to the healthcare industry in recent years. The incorporation of diverse innovative technologies, including LED, has given a boost to healthcare service quality. According to EPISTAR senior director Dr. Shao-You Deng, LED beams of different wavelengths used to measure physiological signals of the human body stand a chance of replacing the conventional invasive approaches to become the mainstream medical measurement technology. EPISTAR has built up strong LED technology and capacity advantages that will continue to step up efforts toward this market segment.Before seeing the doctor, people usually need to have their physiological signals such as heart rate and blood pressure measured by specific instruments. To make the process easier, high-tech firms have been marketing wearable devices including smart watches and wristbands that use LED light sources to detect the user's heart rate and aggregate the measurements for big data analytics to guide subsequent care plans.According to Dr. Deng, the physiological signals are now generally measured using specific devices such as blood pressure gauges and blood glucose meters and the measurements only indicate the health condition of the person at the time when he is tested. With wearable devices emerging, continuous measurements become available. However, network communication quality and charges prevent the continuous measurements from being uploaded to the backend management platform in real time so there is a limit to the benefit of wearable devices. This may be overcome with the advent of 5G communication, which features high bandwidth, high-speed data transfer and massive connectivity. Wearable devices will be able to maintain uninterrupted connection with the backend platform to allow the system to constantly monitor the user's physiological signals and instantly respond to emergencies.Smart watches introduced by leading tech firms including Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi all come with a heart rate monitoring feature. For example, Mi Band, Apple Watch and Amazon Halo use green 520-540 nm LED for photoplethysmogram (PPG) based heart rate monitoring to enable their healthcare features. EPISTAR senior engineer Dr. Yung-Hsin Lin noted such non-invasive health monitoring solutions are a clear trend now and LED technology will play a critical role to these solutions. Having built up robust LED technological capabilities through years of efforts, EPISTAR is a strong support for smart healthcare device manufacturers.When LED technology was first being adopted in smart healthcare solutions, EPISTAR had begun to work with customers looking to expand into the market segment, said Dr. Lin. After a period of testing, EPISTAR found the most suitable LED technology for use in end devices. For example, 620 - 1000 nm red and infrared light became the LED market standard for heart rate and blood oxygen level monitoring. Aside from the applications of LED with different wavelengths, EPISTAR has also developed products that meet power consumption requirements by wide-ranging healthcare devices. For instance, EPISTAR offers LED products for wearable devices that combine precision and energy efficiency. Visitors to Touch Taiwan 2021 will see EPISTAR's LED solutions for healthcare devices covering a full spectrum of wavelengths.Not only does EPISTAR hold strong advantages in product portfolio and production capacity, but it is also among the very few Taiwan-based LED suppliers that offer LED products covering all wavelengths. For short-wave infrared (SWIR) light, which will be used in smart healthcare applications going forward, it has developed the first-generation transmitter sensor. According to Dr. Deng, SWIR is classified to have wavelengths above 1,100 nm and requires the use of InP substrates. EPISTAR is also one of the few LED suppliers capable of producing SWIR sensors spanning across 1,100 nm, 1,300 nm and 1,500 nm ranges. Furthermore, its unique epitaxy process enables EPISTAR to make SWIR LEDs that deliver 10% to 15% higher power and require 5% to 10% lower voltage compared to products of Japanese manufacturers. More importantly, it is capable of large-scale production, ahead of most other LED suppliers in the world.Leveraging its strength in capacity, technology and quality, EPISTAR will aggressively grab the smart healthcare market. Initial-stage efforts will focus on consumer products that do not require certifications, with plans to expand into professional-grade medical devices going forward. In conclusion, Dr. Deng and Dr. Lin noted that despite the promising outlook for non-invasive LED-based measurement in the smart healthcare market, the performance of LED-based measuring devices will hinge on the precision and energy efficiency the LED can deliver. EPISTAR's expertise in LED and healthcare will make it a strong support for device makers, helping them capture rising opportunities.Source: EPISTARSource: EPISTAR

Industry-wide shortage of foundry capacity has sent fabless IC design houses scrambling for support. They are now diversifying their foundry service suppliers in order to secure support. Foundry houses and fabless IC firms may be eager to increase their spending on capacity expansions or R&D, but backend services firms are more conservative, giving priority to raising capacity utilization and expanding capacity for mature processes. But Taiwanese backend firms are helping Apple develop dual-band 5G AiP modules that may be featured in upcoming iPhones.Fabless chipmakers diversify foundry suppliers: Taiwan-based IC design houses including MediaTek, Elan Microelectronics and Realtek Semiconductor have moved to diversify their foundry partners amid tight capacity at many pure-play foundries, according to industry sources.Capacity utilization, expansion for mature processes now top concern for OSATs: Taiwan's backend houses are relatively conservative about capex expansions, compared to foundry houses and fabless firms' eagerness in inceasing spending, according to industry sources.Apple may adopt in-house developed dual-band AiP for new iPhones, say sources: Apple is stepping up development its own dual-band 5G AiP (antenna in package) module, which, along with Qualcomm's solutions, may be featured in its next-generation iPhones, according to industry sources.

Taiwania Capital is set to complete the fifth round of fundraising in June, targeting startups at Pre-A as well as Series A and Series B rounds, according to company CEO David Weng.The Taiwanese venture capital firm is looking to invest about NT$1.5 billion (US$52.68 million) in the fifth round, Weng said.Since many of the firm's partners and shareholders are first-tier IT companies in Taiwan, Taiwania will also be promoting collaboration between the startups they invest in and their partners, Weng noted.Taiwania is also looking to complete another fundraiser by the third quarter, accumulating an amount of NT$6 billion to mainly invest in emerging applications such as 5G and AI.Taiwania general partner Cheng Wu pointed out that the company is currently working with institutions in Taiwan such as Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and Institute for Information Industry (III) to incubate R&D teams and talent for industries such as 5G and cyber security.Taiwania so far has invested in 10 US-based and 10 Taiwan-based IT startups focusing on developing 5G, advanced manufacturing, enterprise software, automation and smart medical care technologies, according to a company managing partner Huang Lee.

The carmaking industry has been plagued by components shortages for months, but TSMC says its supply of automotive chips to clients should start to improve in second-quarter 2021. But the automotive chip shortage is a structural problem where cars need more electronic components, intensifying competition between carmakers and IT firms for foundry support. And at Samsung, tight in-house foundry capacity as a result of a previous power outage hitting one of its fabs in the US is sending the Korean giant looking to outsource some of its chip production. TSMC expects auto chip shortage to greatly improve starting 2Q21: The ongoing shortage of automotive chips will be greatly reduced starting the second quarter of 2021, according to pure-play foundry TSMC.Car vendors dealing with structural shortage of chips: Car vendors are dealing with a structural shortage of automotive chips resulting in their supply constraints, according to industry sources, who believe the impact of a recent power outage at TSMC's chip plant will be insignificant on the overall auto chip supply.Samsung reportedly looking to outsource memory controller production: Samsung Electronics is looking to outsource the production of its memory controllers amid tight capacity at its own foundry, according to market sources.

Wired Magazine once indicated in a report that as the ultimate human-machine interface for various technological devices, AR technology in the 5G and 6G era will be used for integrating a comprehensive range of information and presenting it to the user in real time. With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world, remote communication has become an important operating mechanism of society, highlighting the crucial role AR/VR plays in such systems. From this perspective, two resident teams at Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), HorusEye Tech and Toii, led a discussion, "Crossing X Realms: Utilizing AR's new 'Realm of Vision' to enhance your immediate combat power," at a recent forum organized by Digitimes.Bill Tseng, co-founder of HorusEye Tech, pointed out at the DForum that AR technology has become increasingly prevalent in the film and television entertainment industry, and that over the past few years the technology has appeared in movies such as Marvel's Iron Man and music videos by Jolin Tsai. As the application of this technology became more widespread, nonetheless, issues with interfacing have also begun to emerge. According to Tseng, image composition is in 3D whether it is AR, VR or MR, but the current interfaces for presenting this type of technology are all 2D screens, and therefore the quality of the 3D images presented is extremely limited. As such, he believes that mobile phones and other flat screens will only be a transitional interface for AR/VR/MR, and that near-eye display will ultimately prevail.Among the quite diverse applications of near-eye display, currently the most demanding is medicine. Applications in this field are estimated to reach US$175.5 billion in 2026. Taking surgical navigation for example, Tseng stated that to ensure surgical procedures are more precise, surgical or drilling paths are simulated before the operation, and the surgeon performs the operation while comparing the simulated route on the screen. The current practice is to place the screen on the side of the operating table, and the surgeon must turn his or her head to look at the screen, but this unintuitive approach may affect the accuracy of the operation. The best way is to use near-eye display and AR technology to display the surgical information directly in the doctor's line of sight.In the past, however, near-eye display still had three major issues - dizziness, loss of contrast and focal rivalry - that needed to be resolved. If these problems can be resolved successfully, application of the technology will widen significantly and market output value will also grow rapidly. HorusEye, a company composed of experts from diverse professional fields such as optics, software, hardware, IP and ID, has been able to eliminate the above-mentioned pain points in near-eye display optics, and is able to offer users a more comfortable and easy-to-use AR/MR experience.In addition to niche markets, AR/VR can also be integrated into all aspects of life for creating various applications. Allen Yu, founder of Toii Virtual Gaming Lab, said that the company focuses technologically on AR+LBS (indoor positioning), an application that is currently mainly used in smart cities but has also been applied in tourism.Yu indicated that AR technology has been on the market for quite some time with the most well-known application being the mobile game of Pokemon Go. The game, launched by in 2016, took the world by storm as soon as it came out, allowing consumers and industry peers to see the feasibility of this technology. Apart from games, AR can also be applied to other fields. In the retail industry, for instance, stores can use AR to provide various services. Consumers can see the location or information of the goods they want to buy on their mobile phones, and AR can also be combined with AI so that, when consumers have questions, the virtual customer service on the system appears instantly and answers the questions.Another application is to integrate AR with tourism and create new business opportunities with new models as has already been done in both Taiwan and Japan. Two previous successful cases in Taiwan are the limited-edition Pokemon Go events in Chiayi and Tainan, where limited-edition Pokemon characters were released for players to catch while local merchants tok part in the design of various promotional activities for expanding business opportunities. In Japan, on the other hand, Guided Anime Spots Tours combining AR with well-known animation attractions are available. When fans take pictures at destinations such as Totoro Forest, the Slam Dunk seaside railway crossing and other places, anime characters will appear on the screen. In addition to the animation industry, local governments of rural regions have also cooperated with gaming companies in the design of various AR games to attract visitors and tourists.As technical challenges continue to be overcome, the implementation of AR/VR will begin to accelerate. Tseng and Yu both think that with Taiwan's strength in science and technology, a large number of talented professionals from various countries seeking shelter from the COVID-19 pandemic will be bringing large amounts of resources in the forms of funds and technologies to Taiwan where epidemic prevention has been largely successful. Under these premises, the two urged Taiwanese businesses to take advantage of this opportunity by utilizing their own technological advantages to unveil creative applications of extended reality (XR) for manufacturing, medical and audio-visual sectors. This will enable businesses to create unprecedented experiences and business opportunities while simultaneously accelerating the upgrading of other industries in Taiwan, resulting in a scenario of mutual benefit for all parties concerned.Bill Tseng (left), co-founder of HorusEye Tech, and Allen Yu (right), founder of Toii Virtual Gaming LabPhoto: Sandy Du, Digitimes, April 2021

With the convergence of 5G, AI, IoT and hyperscale computing, what will computing needs look like in the next decade? As the heart of the computing and connectivity revolution, and the developer of widely used processor architecture, Arm has outlined its vision over the next decade through the recent launch of the Armv9 architecture.CK Tseng (left), President of Arm Taiwan, and Dr. JC Hsu, Corporate VP and GM of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit (right)As AI-powered compute becomes ubiquitous, CK Tseng, President of Arm Taiwan, expected that another 300 billion Arm-based chips to ship during the next decade and could be widely used in end devices, data networks, edge computing or in the cloud. After a holistic consideration of the balance between general purpose and specialized processing as well as factors such as safety, performance, ease of development and power efficiency, Armv9 is the solution developed to address this unprecedented opportunity for innovation. How to leverage Arm architecture and its strong ecosystem to make innovations is what the whole industry can think about to identify and size up the business opportunities.Computing needs and challenges for the next decadeIt has been 10 years since Arm launched Armv8 architecture. More than 180 billion Arm-based chips have been shipped over the past 30 years, Tseng said. From sensors, edge, networks to the cloud, the vast majority of shared data today are processed by Arm processors at some stage through its lifecycle. Therefore, when we started developing the Armv9 a few years ago, we have been thinking about what's the biggest challenge over the next decade? How can we help developers prepare for the future?Shipments of Arm-based chips are expected to reach 300 billion in the next decade for diverse innovative solutionsFirst, information security is the biggest challenge. "Data has become an important asset for individuals, whether in consumer, industrial or commercial applications, ensuring privacy and security is an urgent issue." In addition, with the growing innovative applications and the cost to launch an app is getting lower, there will be more and more people engaged in software development. In the future, the number of software will increase greatly, how to prevent important information from being stolen and make the development of applications easier and seamless is a matter to be considered.In the meantime, the popularity of AI and hyperscale computing applications will continue to drive the development of edge AI, and the market has endless demand for lower power consumption and higher performance. Arm is developing technologies to increase efficiency, bandwidth, cache size and reduce memory latency to maximize the performance of Armv9-based CPU to collaborate with partners to react to challenges.Another challenge posed by the ubiquity of AI in computing is that the requirements for specialized processing solutions will become higher. Different market segmentation, performance and use cases will bring different computing requirements. How to flexibly utilize the hardware and software capabilities of CPU, GPU and NPU processors to optimize the AI workload in the optimal solution is also a problem to be solved.The future of specialized computing delivers enhanced security, AI and system performanceTherefore, in addition to enhancing security and core performance, Arm is also trying to create solutions that meets the needs of specialized computing under the general-purpose and flexible hardware architecture to achieve the optimal "system-level" performance.Tseng said that in anticipation of this trend, Arm has changed to define the organizational structure from an application point of view rather to define from product lines to cater for the specific needs of computing technologies for different applications.David Hsu, Arm FAE Director, added that specified processing is needed to respond to the diverse needs for future chips. That's why Arm integrates Arm CPU, GPU and NPU platforms to deliver greater efficiency, scalability and flexibility. In addition to hardware, Arm has also put a lot of efforts in building a software ecosystem. "The future is an era of contextual optimization, moving beyond individual IP specification, where software will play a much bigger role."To this end, Arm introduces SystemReday program. As long as hardware and underlying software comply with defined system standards, all operating systems can run on top of them and can be compatible with Arm-based hardware, from sensors, edge to the cloud. Based on the concept of a software-defined device, the adoption of the Arm architecture, which is widely used in the industry, will ensure that developers can maximize their software investment, Tsang said. "Since we can't anticipate the performance of the end devices, in order to achieve the best performance, self-developed software and cloud software will co-exist in the future. There'll be more and more cloud-native software running on the edge devices, and we encourage partners to join."The Arm SystemReady program achieves balance between standardization and flexibility, helping partners innovate with differentiated designsHsu emphasized that for Arm, these efforts are all about trying to strike a balance between standardization and flexibility. Through standardization of hardware and underlying software, such as defining the standards in the Base System Architecture (BSA) and Base Boot Requirement (BBR), it will be easier for companies to port software and allow them to focus on application innovation and design differentiation.On the security front, Armv9 introduced the Confidential Compute Architecture (CCA), introducing the concept of dynamically created Realms for the first time to protect data in use. The main difference between Realms and the existing TrustZone technology is that the latter believes the underlying operating system is secure while isolating secure world from non-secure world. On the other hand, the protection in CCA is to transfer data to its own Realms through an additional address translation, making it hard for the operating systems to probe the code and data executed in the Realms. Therefore, even if an operating system is compromised, the data and codes in Realms can still be ensured.The Arm Confidential Compute Architecture (CCA) introduces a new concept of dynamically created RealmsRealms are an evolution of TrustZone. By being isolated from the operating system, Realms provide an additional layer of protection for software. Even dynamically downloaded apps on mobile phones can gain higher confidentiality by introducing the Realms. In addition, the Armv9 architecture provides enhanced support for Memory Tagging Extensions, which protects data passed from the CPU to the memory by allowing software to associate a pointer to memory with a tag to counter attacks on memory security vulnerabilities. Security is enhanced through the various protection mechanisms in hardware and software.In digital signal processing (DSP) and AI computing, Arm partnered with Fujitsu to create the Scalable Vector Extension (SVE) technology, which is at the heart of the Fugaku, the world's fastest supercomputer. Building on that work, SVE2, an enhanced version of SVE developed for Armv9, enables support of vector length from 128 bits to a variable of 2048 bits.Hsu said that such a large amount of parallel computing power enables Armv9 to work well for 5G systems, virtual reality, augmented reality and also for machine learning workloads. Over the next few years, Arm will further extend the performance with substantial enhancements in performing Matrix Multiplication within the CPU. In addition to expanding AI capabilities, AI innovations in Mali GPUs and Ethos NPUs will continue.Leverage Arm ecosystem to accelerate product innovation and differentiationThe release of the Armv9 architecture is just a start. The industry will continue to see Arm roll out new products and technologies to propel Arm's vision: specialized processing, built on the economics, design freedom and accessibility advantages of our ubiquitous computing platform, enabling our partners to deliver best in class solutions across all markets. The first Armv9-based product will be available this year.Armv9's advanced architecture opens up more innovation possibilities and new opportunities for Taiwan's technology industry. Tseng said Taiwan's technology sector had performed well in 2020, but the challenge of moving beyond existing business models to increase business value in response to the needs of the new generation of computing remains to be solved. "Taiwan companies have been very well versed in technology. Facing various opportunities such as 5G, IoT, cloud, automotive and others, they need to develop long-term profitability models and increase investment in innovation to lay the foundation for future growth.""In Arm's case, we started investing in Armv9 research and development a few years ago to keep pace with the trends and partner needs. The opportunity Armv9 brings to Taiwan is about providing more value and the possibility of differentiation, which is the key to success," Tseng said.Hsu explained, "In the case of smart camera, Taiwan companies has built strong capabilities from chip design, software to the machine. The competitive advantage can be further improved by taking advantage of Armv9's enhanced security and AI performance to take the lead in developing more powerful and more secure products, for example, achieving higher recognition accuracy in AI, in line with the special use case, or increasing product security.""Arm has been deeply cultivated in Taiwan for more than 20 years, and we have been committed to helping our customers expand the market and drive business value." Tsang said. "Taiwan has built up strong design capabilities and already been a critical part of global high-tech supply chain, and we look forward to helping partners speed up time to market for new products through Armv9's excellent features and enhanced connection of ecosystem.""We see great opportunities in areas including smart cameras, smart surveillance, PC, laptop, edge computing, data centers, automotive, and industrial computers for Taiwan companies." Tseng explained.MediaTek took the lead in adopting Armv9 and the new product will be available at the end of this yearMediaTek has become quite the household name in 5G mobile communication technology over recent years. Apart from just smartphones, Arm's collaboration with MediaTek on new Armv9 architecture products extends throughout its product range. "The Arm Neoverse solution supports more cores at constant thermal design power (TDP), improves energy efficiency and performance to offer greater potential for workloads such as high performance computing and machine learning. We are in ongoing discussion with MediaTek in consumer electronics and communication areas such as 5G wireless base stations, enterprise private networks, edge computing, core networks and data centers, etc., and look forward to more cooperation opportunities," said Tseng.At the global launch of the Armv9, MediaTek announced that their first Armv9-based smartphone product will be available by the end of 2021. "MediaTek has built up an abundance of product lines encompassing mobile devices, home entertainment applications, wireless connection technologies and IoT markets over the years. The scalability of the Arm architecture, along with excellent performance and design innovation are key as we expand the MediaTek portfolio," said Dr. JC Hsu, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit.JC Hsu believes that the support and advice provided by the Arm team has indeed played a key role in enabling MediaTek's continued innovation and product enhancement. He thinks very highly of the Armv9 architecture in terms of its better security, computing performance and energy efficiency. Through Arm's multiple solutions, including high-efficiency, low-power design and the scalability of the system platform, MediaTek will continue to work closely with Arm in all fields going forward.This echoes what Tseng has stressed all along -- the hope of helping Arm partners to leverage Arm core architecture, the powerful ecosystem and software support to expand markets and generate business opportunities. It is expected that Armv9 will become the foundation for next-generation chip designs as well as the opportunity for enterprises to enhance their competitiveness and technological innovation.Click here to get more details on the Armv9 architecture

TSMC expects flat sequential growth in its second-quarter 2021 sales, but has upward revised its outlook for full-year 2021 revenue to around 20% growth. The foundry house has also raised its capex budget for 2021 to US$30 billion. In the display sector, AUO is expanding its 6G LCD line in Kunshan, China to cater to strong demand for LTPS panels for notebooks. Notebook PCB makers in Taiwan also expect strong sales in first-quarter 2021.TSMC expects flat 2Q21, raises capex outlook: TSMC expects to post revenues of between US$12.9 billion and US$13.2 billion in the second quarter of 2021, which is a 1% sequential increase at the midpoint. Gross margin and operating margin for the second quarter are estimated at 49.5-51.5% and 38.5-40.5%, respectively.AUO expanding 6G LCD line in China: AUO is expanding capacity at its Kunshan, China plant, with new capacity scheduled to arrive in the third quarter of 2022.Notebook PCB makers to enjoy strong 1H21: Taiwan-based notebook PCB specialists including HannStar Board and Taiwan PCB Techvest (TPT) have posted brisk sales results for the first quarter, and are poised to enjoy a particularly strong first-half 2021, according to industry sources.