Japan announced that it would demonstrate its autonomous vehicle technology during the Tokyo Olympics as a demonstration of intelligent automobiles. Driven by 5G and artificial intelligence (AI), the ICT industry is heading towards an era of autonomous vehicles. The applications of ICT technologies in cars have been gradually shifted from entertainment videos, audio playbacks and navigation systems in early days to developing deep learning and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication in order to eventually make autonomous vehicles a commerical reality. To achieve this goal, semiconductor will undoubtedly be the primary driving force for any ICT technology.Advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) is the most popular application in the current automotive environment. It is composed of many functions such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Blind Spot Detection (BSD) and Driver Monitoring System (DMS). Car vendors have been trying to work on more active safety protection and expect to reach the ultimate goal of self-driving cars. As such, more semiconductor manufacturers are cooperating with car OEM to boost device reliability.As mentioned above, currently there have been many actual semiconductors applications for automobiles, including the power semiconductors and video and audio playback and integration systems used in electric vehicles (including hybrid electric vehicles), micro-controllers/digital signal processor/semiconductor sensors used for vehicle and passive safety, and many other types of memories (such as NOR and DRAM). According to the statistics of IHS, the total output value of automotive semiconductor industry has grown at an average annual rate of about 7% in the past few years.DRAM applications in automobilesIn most systems in automobile, DRAM is responsible for storage of program codes and computing data, and it plays a more important role during the development of automobiles with more and more ICT functions, which include but are not limited to personal computers (PCs), servers, mobile devices and vehicles. So far, the primary memory-based automotive applications are information & entertainment system and ADAS, and they account for more than 80% of the entire output value of automotive DRAM industry.Among all ADAS applications nowadays, DRAM is mainly used for applications related to radar/lidar sensing and camera sensing in which large-size data of the environment has to be stored or processed by the domain controller in time. Therefore high bandwidth and high computing performance is required for controller and DRAM, and it will increase along with enhanced sensor resolution. To meet this requirement, LPDDR4/4x DRAM has become more and more popular in such applications because it supports data transfer rate up to 4266Mbps. In terms of information & entertainment applications, the major systems are instrument cluster, infotainment and telematics. DRAM is used in instrument cluster and infotainment systems for graphic function and is used in telematics system for data transmit function. The early development led to the long-term use of DDR (DDR2/DDR3) series. However, due to the power saving requirement of automobile, low power memory (LPDDR) has been gradually take the place of DDR, and LPDDR4/4x is becoming mainstream.It is interesting to see that, in addition to DRAM capacity, the performance is also a critical factor among these applications. Due to the large variety of automotive applications, not all of them require large capacity DRAM. More frequently seen applications actually require computation performance. For example, various automotive sensing technologies will rely on high speed computation to generate real-time results to be immediately used by on-board electronics devices. As a result, small-capacity LPDDR4x DRAM will play important roles in those applications.The importance of reliabilityComparing to consumer product, a major difference of automotive product is that not only the quality state of on-board electronics device upon factory delivery is concerned, but also whether it could operate normally for a long time. Cars are often driven in all kinds of weather and environment, so automotive semiconductor must withstand high and low temperatures in order to operate normally for many years. During driving, any mistake could result in extreme danger. That's why reliability of automotive semiconductor is so important. After all, the rebooting can solve most problems for consumer electronics products, yet for a moving vehicle this is not a feasible solution.Common hardware reliability issues of automotive semiconductor are errors in die and packaging. The possible errors in die include transistor instability, ion contamination, electromigration (EM) of metal conductor, and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) while the reliability errors relating to packaging include warpage of packaging.In order to solve the aforementioned hardware reliability issues, the "High Temperature Operating Lifetime Test" (HTOL) will be conducted before product mass production to simulate the product operation status during high temperature acceleration. The "Burn In" process in the mass production line can be used for testing "Early Failure Rate" (EFR) of defective process component. As for the packaging, the warpage deformation can be solved via Board Level Reliability.Winbond has years of experience in fabrication of automotive memoryWinbond owns self-built wafer fabs, and is one of the top four IC makers that can simultaneously provide DRAM and NOR/NAND FLASH. The production lines of automotive DRAM include SDRAM, DDR/2/3 and LPDDR/2/4/4x with capacity ranging from 16Mb to 8Gb. It can meet customers' strict requirements of management of automotive memories, and provide longevity services. The capacity of Winbond LPDDR4/4x DRAM series is 1~8 Gb with 25nm technology node which is self-developed by Winbond, and the speed could be up to 4266Mbps. In addition to the supply type of known good die, Winbond also provides the standard 200BGA package with various kinds of automotive grade whereas AG1 grade will be ready at 3Q'20.With the products certified by IATF 16949 and AECQ-100 standards, Winbond has been a supplier of many automotive electronics devices manufacturers for many years. In the future, as more ADAS functions enter the car and gradually realize the self-driving cars, Winbond will continue to provide products with good performance and reliability to support customers in automotive industry.(Note: Hsiu-Min Lin is DRAM technical manager at Winbond Electronics.)Winbond LPDDR4/4x

For a few years now, experts and commentators have been foretelling an explosion in the growth of the IoT. The reality is they picked the wrong analogy and uptake of IoT technology is less like a big bang and more like a rising tide.And while it may have started small, IoT technology is now definitely making big waves as it sweeps through business and industry driven not just by the enabling network technology, but also by the availability of low-cost network edge devices.The upcoming roll out of true of 5G networks will add further to its momentum, but in the meantime, the global pandemic caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus, is also serving to bring IoT deployments to the forefront. Indeed, in these extreme emergency situations, the speed at which mobile IoT networks can be set up and turned operational will no doubt cause many companies to question the pace of their own IoT influenced digital transformation projects.Take the example of under-pressure healthcare facilities. Around the world we are seeing the transformation of convention centers, sports arenas and pop-up tented villages into state-of-the-art medical centers. These centers need more than just beds and a Wi-Fi network. They need advanced, high performance, high security, machine-to-machine and machine-to-control center communications over advanced, dedicated LTE mobile networks.Private Gigabit-LTE networks have been provisioned virtually overnight allowing these temporary healthcare centers to quickly become operational. These facilities house complex medical equipment and monitoring systems and they need to gather, and securely share, sensitive personal patient data both within the facility and back to the sponsoring healthcare provider.Modern IoT devices and network technology are underpinning this drive. We are talking high-speed gigabit class LTE connections, dual path wireless modems with link redundancy and traffic load management, edge security systems, firewall protection and internet content filtering. These are sophisticated, highly technical, enterprise-ready secure private mobile IoT networks that are being created and delivered in a matter of days.And it's not just within medical centers such as the pop-up facilities. The healthcare emergency has also led to increase in the use of remote telemedicine applications. Retired doctors are coming back online to help with more routine conditions and diagnosis; and hospitals in areas less affected by the virus are also making staff available on a remote working basis. Again, standard communications networks and devices are not up to the job required.These remote doctors need reliable and secure at-home and remote office connections that can isolate their extremely sensitive traffic from other local networks while also providing the bandwidth required to support real-time video and exceptionally large data files such as chest X-rays. Again, IoT devices and routers are very quickly provisioning and delivering this connectivity across multiple sites.Of course, the uptake of remote and home working has also become the new reality for millions of office workers during the coronavirus crisis. And while apps like Zoom, Blue Jeans, and Microsoft Teams have attracted attention and seen an exponential rise in their usage; not all that attention has positive.Questions have been raised about the security of some of the popular video calling services and with remote workers in both the public and private sector now often being asked to handle mission-critical data, and sensitive customer or citizen information, outside of their secure organizational networks; this new operating model is potentially too open to attack from hackers and fraudsters.IoT routers and edge devices are providing the firewall protection and secure virtual private network (VPN) connectivity that turns at-home networks into extensions of the secure enterprise network. This keeps the data safe and ensures that remote office workers can access everything they need quickly and efficiently.A crisis situation is often said to bring out the best in people. Maybe it can be said that it also brings out the best in technology as well. The speed at which the IoT industry, its devices and its network technology, has been able to respond to the heightened requirements caused by the global pandemic is remarkable.When the crisis finally passes it is unlikely that the world will return to operating in exactly the same way as before. The remote working genie is certainly out of the bag, and the value of video conferencing has received an awareness boost that its providers will no doubt welcome. Even the Mother of Parliaments in the United Kingdom is returning to work with a video conferencing flavor.And as business and industry resumes, those that had marked their IoT projects as too costly, too difficult and too slow to realize, might just be rethinking that verdict.(Note: Derick Tsang is SVP Sales APAC at Telit)Telit IoT solutions providing Gigabit level high speed data transmission technologies for fast responding the challenges of emerging pandemics and health security threats

AWS will be hosting the AWS Summit Hong Kong online. Designed to educate and inspire, the summit will include 40+ technical sessions covering the latest AWS cloud solutions. AWS has also invited 10+ customers to share stories on how they innovating within their companies and driving change for maximum social impact.What's on at AWS Summit online 2020?Learn new skills through deep dive sessions and hands-on labs, and discover best practices from AWS experts on topics ranging from cloud migration to AI & machine learning, data and analytics and security. Don't forget to prepare your questions early and get your answers live from our experts!Two keynotes will showcase organisations taking a customer-centric approach to organisational transformation, and individuals adopting new technologies and reskilling to drive change at speed.There are even more activities in the Skills Zone, the DeepRacer League Summit Online Race, the Industry Solution Zone and Partner Discovery Zone. We also have games where you can win badges and redeem a souvenir.Register now, and stay tuned for more details.AWS Summit online Hong Kong 2020

With an ever increasing plethora of distractions in our daily lives, it's no wonder catching others' attention has become difficult. Bigger and brighter - often means better. Enter NEXCOM's NDiS V1000 digital signage player, supporting high-definition graphics with superior bandwidth and processing capabilities, and bringing images to life with vibrant 4k resolution on multi-displays. Powered by AMD's V1605B APU microprocessor, the seamlessly integrated CPU and GPU result in a high performance yet lower-power device perfect for retail environments and even private uses.4k resolution is quickly becoming indispensable for quality graphic displays and not simply an option. The value-added and scalable NDiS V1000 supports individual 4K resolution for up to four simultaneous displays, ensuring that multi-displays pop with amazing clarity. In building the NDiS V1000 4k signage player, NEXCOM carefully selected AMD's Ryzen Embedded V1605 CPU and Radeon Vega 8 GPU SoC. The integrated SoC generates less thermal power than most others while achieving better graphic performance, all at a budget-friendly price point. With such outstanding capabilities, NDiS V1000 is tailored for retail businesses, such as shopping malls, department stores, and convenience stores. Yet output quality is so superb and processing so smooth that museums and business war rooms also love the signage player.The NDiS V1000 is the adaptable and suitable choice for a variety of needs. NDiS V1000's fanless design decreases excess noise to elevate customer satisfaction. The redesigned I/O layout is also simple and efficient, with all external connections located on the back panel. I/Os include a COM port for legacy devices, such as barcode scanners, so that they don't need replacing in order to connect to the most advanced computers. The digital signage player additionally provides four USB 3.0 ports for instances where connectivity speed is a priority, particularly factory automation and production monitoring/storage.Furthermore, two LAN ports are available for various tasks, perhaps one for transferring data and displaying information, and the other for private monitoring and security. The M.2 E key expansion slot is customizable to your specific needs but an excellent fit for a Wi-Fi module, which, for example, could help franchisees and stores send data to and receive data from a centralized cloud overnight. All of these redesigns have the added benefit of reducing power, thus saving potential expenses.NEXCOM-NDiSV1000

The petrochemical industry produces products of tremendous value through labor-intensive and complex processes. Any unexpected production equipment failure may result in production shutdown and significant losses. With Industrial 4.0 becoming a key development trend for manufacturing industries in recent years, the petrochemical industry is beginning to incorporate smart manufacturing and attach importance to data. Prowave, with three decades of experience in equipment vibration research, engaged in collaboration with ADLINK to develop a new machine condition monitoring system for a large petrochemical company in Taiwan to help ensure more reliable and safer production equipment operation.Concerns over cost and payback period no longer hinder adoption of machine condition monitoring solutionsProwave successfully helped a renowned petrochemical company in Taiwan incorporate a machine monitoring system operating across multiple production sites. The system not only enables the company to stay on top of the operating conditions of production line equipment but also generates additional benefits.Smartization in manufacturing remains in the initial stage, so many manufacturers hesitate to introduce smart systems into their production process. In particular, machine condition monitoring systems are not considered revenue-generating equipment. Moreover, in view of their high upfront cost and long payback period, manufacturers generally take a wait-and-see attitude toward their adoption. However, we will see a new side of things from a different perspective. If we look closely at current market developments, we will find market-leading manufacturers have long engaged in building up machine condition monitoring systems. This vouches for the value of these systems. From the use case of the petrochemical company in Taiwan, we see that the machine monitoring system has created four major benefits of machine condition monitoring as follows.Benefit 1: Maintaining reliable production line operationProduction equipment is the most valuable revenue-generating asset to manufacturers. A machine condition monitoring system helps ensure reliable operation of production equipment so that manufacturers can rest assured of their product quality and production yield. It can prevent unexpected equipment failure from resulting in production shutdown and shipment delay, which may damage business reputation.Benefit 2: Significantly reducing maintenance costA machine condition monitoring system will immediately issue an alert when detecting a warning sign of equipment failure. Factory managers can therefore take early action and root out the cause of the problem at minimal cost. Not only will it save manufacturers from the cost of replacing failed units but it can also effectively extend equipment life and maximize manufacturers' return on investment.Benefit 3: Ensuring labor safetyA machine condition monitoring system can use smart monitoring solutions to detect the conditions of machines operating in hazardous environments such as at high altitudes or with toxic gas. It therefore eliminates the need for human inspectors and reduces the chance of labor safety incidents.Benefit 4: Driving smart transformation using big data analyticsEquipment condition data collected by a machine condition monitoring system can serve as the basis for analysis by backend platforms to help factory managers make production plans and drive digital transformation for the corporation.The high-performance system precisely captures equipment conditionIn light of all the above benefits, Prowave built the machine condition monitoring system for the petrochemical company in Taiwan using ADLINK's MCM-100 and MCM-204. Featuring high resolution and high bandwidth, MCM-100 and MCM-204 meet the system's requirements for machine vibration detection. Their built-in RJ-45 Ethernet ports significantly shorten cabling distance and therefore minimize signal interference. With 4-CH 24-Bit 128kS/s simultaneous sampling analog input, different machines can easily be connected to form an Internet of Machines. MCM-100, powered by Intel Atom x7-E3950, is suitable for use as workstations at manufacturing sites. MCM-204, featuring ARM Cortex-A9, can perform edge computing. Its small footprint also allows easy integration with the production equipment on site.ADLINK's high-performance hardware enables Prowave's vibration detection technology developed through long-term devotion to work at its best. In the use case, the machine condition monitoring system Prowave built for the petrochemical company analyzes data collected from on-site production equipment in real time. The vibration thresholds at which the system will issue warning or critical events can be customized based on user requirements. Furthermore, Prowave provides complete maintenance service. It will perform annual system calibration based on on-site operation condition after the system is put into place. Prowave will also build vibration models for the production equipment to enable more precise analysis and maintenance going forward.Professional manufacturer selects the system for its high quality and high performanceA slew of global machine condition monitoring solution providers took part in the tendering process of the petrochemical company, which is also an equipment manufacturer and production line system expert itself. The system jointly created by machine condition monitoring solution specialists ADLINK and Prowave was approved and selected by the tender project managers over the other competing systems from global leading firms. They are now working together to put the system in place at the petrochemical company's plants. Aside from the petrochemical industry, the system is also ideal for the semiconductor, display panel, pulp and paper and other large-scale manufacturing industries. With the system, factory managers will be able to leverage real-time machine condition monitoring to stay on top of production equipment health and take the first step to smart transformation.With Industrial 4.0 becoming a key development trend for manufacturing industries in recent years, the petrochemical industry is beginning to incorporate smart manufacturing and attach importance to data.

Askey, a Taiwan-based ICT solutions provider for businesses and service providers, announced plans to develop 5G mmWave and sub-6GHz small cell products for public venues and private networks, working with Qualcomm Technologies. Askey plans to deliver 5G NR mmWave devices for indoor applications, which cover enterprises such as offices, university campuses, hospitals, hotels, shopping centers, and more.With Qualcomm FSM100xx 5G RAN platform, Askey aims to provide powerful, concurrent beamforming, and other advanced features to support indoor environments. When deployed with Askey's LTE residential and enterprise small cell based on the Qualcomm FSM99xx 4G RAN platform, mobile operators are expected to rapidly deploy 5G NSA mode.With continuous efforts in research and development, Askey is able to provide the latest technologies to fulfill the highly demanding needs of small cell applications. "Askey has more than 10 years of experience in design and manufacturing of femto/small cells for mobile network operators," said Robert Lin, CEO of Askey. "Our experience in small cell design and customization capabilities will benefit customers. With the leading technologies and customization from Askey and Qualcomm Technologies, we aim to provide affordable 5G small cells for mobile network operators.""Since announcing the Qualcomm FSM100xx 5G RAN platform in 2018, we've seen continually increasing adoption from leading global infrastructure providers and manufacturers. We are proud that Askey has chosen us to work with them on their 5G small cell solutions," said Puneet Sethi, senior director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies. "Our 5G RAN platform aims to help reach new customers and speed deployments, and because of its form-factor it is designed to help address a variety of both indoor and outdoor scenarios."

Winbond Electronics Corporation, a leading global supplier of semiconductor memory solutions, today announced a new version of QspiNAND Flash designed for use with the Qualcomm 9205 LTE Modem.The industry's first 1.8V, 512Mbits (64Mega Bytes) QspiNAND Flash from Winbond Electronics offers the right density for designers of New Cellular NB-IoT Modules."As the Internet of Things expands to 50 billion connected devices by 2020, Quad SPI-NAND adoption rate may increase 4-5 fold within a few years," said Alan Niebel, president of WebFeet Research, an independent market-research firm. "Winbond's 1.8V QspiNAND Flash is suitable for both Automotive and IoT segments. NB-IoT is poised to grow in this new connected world with shipments that may reach 685M units worldwide by 2023"."Winbond is proud and committed to innovate and differentiate by designing our QspiNAND Flash KGD solution for use with the Qualcomm 9205 LTE Modem from Qualcomm Technologies," said Syed S. Hussain, Director Segment Marketing, Winbond Electronics America Flash Business Group. "We continue to work closely with Qualcomm Technologies on the Memory components for the next-generation LTE Modem solutions for IoT applications."Winbond expands its reach from traditional QSPI-NOR Flash to QSPI-NAND Flash, giving customers the flexibility to choose their Code Storage Feature-Set to expand with minimal cost. This is done by using the same 6-pin signals and QSPI command-set for SLC NAND Flash densities without compromising performance by utilizing the new Continuous READ feature at 104MHz Read Speed."Qualcomm Technologies has tested and qualified the Winbond QspiNAND Flash as a stacked KGD solution with the Qualcomm 9205 LTE Modem, allowing our OEM customers to create extremely small form factor systems," said Vieri Vanghi, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Europe Inc. "We are proud of our long-standing collaboration with Winbond, and look forward to continuing to provide leading IoT technology solutions together."W25N QspiNAND Flash family devices are offered in space-saving 8-pin packages which was not possible in the past for typical SLC NAND Flash memory. W25N512GW is a 512M-bit memory array organized into 32,768 programmable pages of 2,112 bytes each. W25N512GW provides a new Continuous Read mode that allows for efficient access to the entire memory array with a single Read command that is ideal for code shadowing applications.Clock speeds of 104MHz allow equivalent 416MHz (104MHz x 4) speed for Quad I/O performance when using the Fast Read Dual/Quad I/O instructions. To provide better NAND Flash memory manageability, an on-chip feature is provided to perform bad block management.To ensure meeting the growing global demand for high-volume solutions, Winbond QspiNAND Flash memories are manufactured in the company's 12-inch wafer fabrication facility in Taichung, Taiwan. Winbond is expanding capacity to meet and to ensure support for new business growth anticipated in both Automotive and IoT Segments."Expanding the SpiFlash family to include QspiNAND Flash will benefit the NOR market and SLC NAND Flash conversion from both QSPI-NOR Flash and Parallel NAND Flash," said J.W. Park, Technology Executive of Winbond Flash Memory. "Winbond jointly-developed this new 512Mb QspiNAND Flash with Baseband Engineering-Team in delivering high performance with cost-benefit in mind."The 1.8V QspiNAND Flash memories feature:Low Power, Wide Temperature Range*Single 1.75V - 1.95V supply*25mA active, 10μA standby, 1μA Deep Power Down*-40 degree C to +85 degree C operating range, Industrial GRADE*-40 degree C to +105 degree C operating range, Industrial plus and Automotive GRADEUnique Memory Architecture*Page Read Time with ECC Enabled: 60μs*Page Program Time: 250μs (typ.)*Block Erase Time: 2ms (typ.)*Fast Program/Erase performance*Supports OTP Memory AreaHigh-Performance QspiNAND Flash*QSPI implementation in 46nm process technology*More than 10-years data retention*104MHz clock frequency that can support up to 52MB/S continuous data transfer rate*Space Efficient Packaging*WSON8 6x8mm*WSON8 5x6mm*TFBGA24 6x8mm*KGD (Known Good Die)W25N512GW is available now. For QspiNAND Flash specific details, please contact www.winbond.com.Winbond QspiNAND

Global Market Insights estimated the size of the cybersecurity market will reach US$300 billion by 2024, due to increasing cyber attacks and unprotected IoT devices.Morgan Hong, GM of Onward Security, said, "The speed of time to market for connected products is now accelerating, but the quality of cybersecurity is often ignored. With the increasing demand for teleworking, using products with cybersecurity vulnerabilities will expose customers to losses caused by cyber attacks, brand and business damages, and even lengthy legal proceedings. IoT device manufacturers should introduce the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SSDLC) immediately to meet the cybersecurity requirements of governments, cybersecurity standards, and buyers.Cybersecurity is the key to the development of the Internet of Things, including the US, Europe, and Japan, which have successively legislated IoT related security policies and regulations. In the 5G environment, enterprises will face more complicated security patterns. Onward Security is the authorized third-party lab for device testing and security assessment for Amazon AVS (Alexa Voice Service), and Asia's only CTIA Authorized Test Lab for cybersecurity. Besides, Its "Automated Product Security Assessment Platform" is assisting firms to implement DevSecOps procedures and effectively meet security compliance and industry standards.Onward Security sincerely invites you to participate in the webinar of "Realize the Security. Win More Opportunities" where you will take IoT/IIoT product security insights away, as well as opportunities in the Asian market.Onward secures the IoT to gain business opportunities with global partners

Digi-Key Electronics, a global electronic components distributor, announced that it has partnered with Truphone to bring cellular IoT connectivity services to manufacturers worldwide. The partnership will provide customers with connected cellular devices and a fully managed service.Digi-Key will use Truphone's state of the art SIM technology, allowing users to connect IoT devices to network providers from the moment they switch their device on. The technology requires no complicated activation process, it is simply connectivity from the touch of a button.The partnership will provide manufacturers of all sizes with industry-leading IoT connectivity services starting with device and application management. The Truphone network supports 2G, 3G, 4G and CAT-M1/LTE-M worldwide - with a single SIM card - and gives every customer access to its IoT Connectivity Management platform.Truphone's simple prepaid SMS and data plans (which provide coverage in multiple countries across a three-year period) simplify the connectivity process, so manufacturers can focus on what they do best - building their application."Both Truphone and Digi-Key share a common goal of bringing IoT into the mainstream," said Ralph Steffens, CEO at Truphone. "For us, the catalyst to spark the IoT starts with connectivity. The more we can streamline the process of connecting IoT devices, the easier it will be to reach its full potential. We're thrilled to be partnering with a business at the forefront of innovation, like Digi-Key, to make this happen." "We are excited to partner with a leader in cellular connectivity like Truphone," said Robbie Paul, director of IoT business development for Digi-Key. "The connectivity services industry is going through radical changes with the advent of 5G and the proliferation of IoT devices. Truphone allows for true worldwide coverage with one SIM card that can be purchased from Digi-Key along with the associated hardware, giving our customers the flexibility to monitor and manage their IoT devices in real-time, from anywhere in the world." For more information about Truphone and to order from their product portfolio, please visit the Digi-Key website.Truphone SIM card

As manufacturers re-open after COVID-19 related lockdowns, economic and supply chain disruptions may be felt beyond 2020. How companies shift in the short-term and plan for the long-term will be factors in defining "new normal" for the component industry.The pandemic caused the world to shut down quickly and, just as quickly, changed buying sentiment. For example, McKinsey & Company reported that demand in cloud and server computing sectors spiked as people started to work from home almost overnight. In contrast, demand for luxury goods plummeted."The automotive and cellphone industry have taken a hit as the world sits at a standstill," said Luke LeSaffre, director of sales, Americas, at Fusion Worldwide. "People's buying habits are focused on essential goods and services now because there is so much financial and employment uncertainty."As we approach the second half of 2020 and re-opening, some companies are shifting production to try to meet the new consumer needs while also mitigating the almost inevitable 2020 financial losses. In other cases, companies may move components to end-of-life quicker to offset waning demand with more profitable components.Looking beyond 2020, there are a few areas that could see significant change. As companies look back to evaluate how to be better prepared for future shocks, increasing efficiency and flexibility may be the themes.With factories starting up again, the "new normal" may result in permanently implementing the operational changes that were required to continue conducting business during the pandemic. For example, changes made to comply with work from home and social distancing mandates may continue as manufacturers see more benefit in keeping these changes for the long-term.One such area is the use of robotics and remote monitoring, which has allowed companies to gain more control of their operations and processes. According to Omdia, by incorporating the use of automation in various steps of the manufacturing processes, companies have the ability adjust their production and shipping schedules immediately.Diversification of the supply chain to avoid similar disruptions is another area to mitigate future risk. Because manufacturers often depend on a single region to produce components or a single product in a buildout, it has hindered their ability to weather the pandemic. This practice has resulted in multiple supply chain gaps, possibly resulting in far reaching impacts.Paul Romano, COO at Fusion Worldwide, said, "With the technology industry, expect to see work done to help build foundations in other areas, like Vietnam, India, and the Philippines to support highly increased production. This, however, is a long-term solution and will be a challenging shift."The United States, in particular, is looking to jump-start the development of new chip factories throughout the country. The creation of cutting-edge factories in the U.S. could reshape the industry as companies' source less from Asia.However, it will be nearly impossible to eliminate the reliance on China in manufacturing - at least for the foreseeable future. The country's size, raw material access and prominence is unparalleled. These fundamentals will prevent any large-scale shift away from China any time soon.A medium-term tactic, however, is diversifying vendor partnerships. With reliance on an exclusive vendor and limited alternative products in builds, companies are left scrambling to fill shortages or reduce excess in tumultuous times. Mitigating this risk by having partnerships in the open market will make for a healthier supply chain.Tobey Gonnerman, EVP of trade at Fusion Worldwide, says "The OEMs and sectors that approach the open market as a 'last resort' are the ones most severely impacted when supply chains are disrupted. Just like any financial planner likes to point out, if you wait until it starts to rain to start thinking about your rainy-day fund, then it's too late. You're going to get wet."While the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the world, many manufacturers will be able to benefit, in the future, by taking the lessons they've learned as an opportunity to enhance their supply chains.Reshaping production post COVID-19