China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) registered Loongson Technology Corporation Limited (Loongson)'s application for an initial public offering (IPO) on the STAR Market. CIP United Company Limited (CIP United) hereby congratulates Loongson.CIP United: Exclusive MIPS Technology licensor in Chinese marketAs the exclusive licensor and operator of MIPS technology in China, Hong Kong and Macao, CIP United has complete innovation and derivative rights to MIPS technology, and can sublicense its customers to be covered by patent protection worldwide from the risk of patent infringement. In the future, CIP United will continue to work with the customers to develop independent and controllable innovative technologies and products based on MIPS technology, and contribute to the "Chips Made in China".Over the past two decades, hundreds of millions of chips developed and shipped based on the MIPS architecture by eminent Chinese chip companies such as Ingenic Semiconductor, Actions Semiconductor, Montage Technology, and Spreadtrum Communications have become the cornerstone of "Chips Made in China".Loongson's IPO: Major revenue from MIPS, and least 'audited' MIPS shipment in Chinese market?As MIPS licensees in China, Loongson and its predecessors have been using the MIPS architecture for more than 20 years. According to Loongson's prospectus, in the period of 2018 to 2021 (Loongson Prospectus Reporting Period), more than 80% of Loongson's revenue was derived from products based on the MIPS architecture.Up to the end of 2021, CIP United has licensed IP exceeded 500 million units. Referencing to Loongson's IPO documents, in the Chinese market, its total number of shipment of chips based on the MIPS architecture authorized Loongson has contributed approximately 0.55% to CIP United's IP shipment. In net, Loongson chips accounted for about 0.15% of the annual IP shipment in 2018, about 0.37% in 2019, about 0.85% in 2020, and about 0.56% in 2021. In those years, Loongson's yearly shipments volume was ranked bottom amongst the top manufacturers.Loongson's IPO: Breach and infringement risks?Loongson's IPO documents indicate it still has ongoing disputes with CIP United that are subject to pending arbitration related to breach of MIPS Technology license agreement in Hong Kong and pending litigations regarding infringement in China.In the arbitration, Loongson was alleged by several breaches including without limitation using unlicensed MIPS technologies, modification of MIPS technology, under-reporting or concealing royalties without acceptance of a proper audit by the licensor. CIP United insists Loongson to accept audit, submit all overdue royalty reports of MIPS technology owed to CIP United and pay these royalties as an IPO candidate.In the litigations, Loongson's 3A5000 chip and its architecture "LoongArch" were sued for infringement of MIIP architectures. Loongson have not yet published LoongArch architecture Volumes 2 and 3, which is not acceptable among the practice in the architecture providers in past decades. According to the "Virtualization[1] Instruction Technology Analysis Opinion" issued by Shanghai Silicon Intellectual Property Exchange Centre Co., Ltd., the virtualization of Loongson's LoongArch architecture is highly similar to that of the MIPS architecture. Further, this analysis report has been endorsed by two leading edged industry experts from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the International Semiconductor Association, a global organization.Loongson's IPO Going Forward: Compliance Issues?Over 20 years, Loongson is about to go public in the STAR Market. Loongson accepted investment from state-owned assets, and therefore is seen as a model of CPU companies in China. It shall further comply with the stringent capital market and intellectual property regulations, and shall make full disclosures that its business, financials, technical independence and products are fraud-less - especially intellectual property issues. Otherwise, it is likely to affect the healthy development of Chinese semiconductor industry, lead to serious loss of state-owned assets, and damage to the public investors and Chinese capital market's international creditability. These discredits are no less than those of the Hanxin scandal, which delayed Chips Made in China over 10 years. The public will continue to keep an eye on these compliance issues in STAR Market. With faith in the regulatory and fair competition, CIP United looks forward to overseeing Loongson's foregoing compliance be properly delivered before official IPO.CIP United is committed to work with the Hi-Tech communities to jointly develop Chinese semiconductor industry and capital market, strengthen higher protection of intellectual property in China, and support China to become an innovative nation.*Note[1]: Virtualization is a module of MIPS technology licensed to Loongson.IP shipments, growth trend and forecast since CIP establishmentPhoto: CIP United

Digi-Key Electronics, which offers the world's largest selection of electronic components in stock for immediate shipment, has been recognized by global interconnect supplier partner Harwin with the Global Performance of the Year award. Digi-key was chosen for its first-rate new product introduction (NPI) activity, the responsiveness of its team to customer demands and exceptional sales performance."We are honored to be recognized for our performance by our valued supplier partner Harwin," said David Stein, vice president of global supplier management at Digi-Key. "This award is proof of our great partnership and our team's commitment to on-time delivery and customer service. We're proud to offer Harwin's high-reliability solutions to our customers."Harwin is the original designer and manufacturer of the high-reliability interconnect families Gecko (1.25mm pitch), Datamate (2mm and 4mm pitch), M300 (3mm pitch) and their newest Kona series (8.5mm pitch). These unique products offer high-reliability connectivity with vibration, shock and temperature resilience for challenging environments and applications – from aviation to space, motorsport, defense, medical and industrial."Digi-Key has continued to set the highest standards when it comes to the service it provides, and Harwin recognizes how hard its staff work to keep achieving more," said Andrew McQuilken, chief revenue officer at Harwin. "The comprehensive support of new product introductions, the large quantities of stock carried to rapid response to customer demands and the continued growth figures being recorded are clear testaments to this."Visit the Digi-Key website to view the full list of Harwin products available through Digi-Key.Matt Nemec, director, supplier business development at Digi-Key, was presented with the Global Performance of the Year award from Doug Steele, head of distribution sales Americas for Harwin.

Industries worldwide are moving towards "Smart" technology and promoting digital transformation with new technologies such as in AI, 5G, and IoT is a crucial strategy for many companies. However, most companies are developing their own technology, which has led to AIoT being applied in a fragmented manner. System integrators usually require a longer lead time and resources to build customized systems for their clients when faced with complex market requirements. AMobile, a joint venture of Arbor Technology and MediaTek, stated that the firm has many years of experience in IIoT smart technology, provide customized designs and ODM/OEM services.Hence, AMobile can assist equipment suppliers that specialize in smart safety and security, healthcare for the elderly, pandemic prevention technology, retail and warehousing, IoV, IoT, etc, to quickly develop products in shorter amounts of time to swiftly seize market opportunities.AMobile devotes great effort to industry applications. The company connects conventional instruments and panels with relevant telecommunications solutions, thereby promoting telecommunication applications in instruments. This makes it more convenient for the industry to upload data when using conventional instruments, thereby accelerating the process and enhancing efficiency. Conventional instruments can also be more wildly applied thanks to telecommunication technology. For instance, digital data can be uploaded easily to the cloud for record-keeping and analysis. Moreover, the equipment can also be managed on the cloud to reduce errors and enhance maintenance. The G60 Mobile Inspection Solution was designed for factory inspection application, and combines wireless communications, radios, and thermal imaging instruments. The smart water meter combines conventional dashboards with AI and thus simplified the process with enhanced efficiency. The solution improved meter reading accuracy and lowered human error rates. Therefore, AMobile's innovations also received recognition from various international design awards, such as the German Red Dot Design Award and Japanese Good Design Award.AMobile has indicated that thanks to its many years of development in AIoT, its relevant technologies have become rather mature. However, successfully integrating these smart equipment or systems in different industries requires further integration among software, hardware, front-end and back-end systems. Only then can a piece of equipment have diverse functions and thus provide the best user experiences and optimize process efficiency. Take the logistics industry for example. In the past, handheld devices within the industry could only be used to record the delivery of goods. But with AMobile's 5G industrial-grade and robust handheld device and tablet, both of them connected to a cloud platform. That equipment can transfer massive data with low latency, high accuracy in positioning, smart navigation, smart delivery, data collection, and data analysis. These advantages can lead to a 20% reduction in operational cost and a 30% boost in work efficiency. In addition, they also lead to better operational performance and management efficacy. In industrial security, AMobile adds AI recognition functions. Users can use edge computing to analyze data promptly and detect, receive reminders and analysis regarding security, all on the cloud.Under this trend, manufacture and system integration must excel in their professional know-how and further market research. In order to fulfill every customer requirement, AMobile is well versed in the technical advantages of industrial controls and processors. The company has well-rounded and flexible professional abilities to satisfy clients' wide range of requirements. AMobile has pointed out that the industry has entered an era of the professional division of labor. Each business must utilize external professional suppliers to solve technical issues to optimize resources best. Currently, the market is fragmented, and different clients have various system specifications and functional requirements. AMobile's ODM also provides flexible services, which means equipment business owners can choose according to their requirements and abilities for a collaboration that benefits all. For instance, equipment business owners can discuss product applications and innovations with ODM suppliers. Examples include electrical switchboard manufacturers requiring thermal imaging modules for application of electrical safety, the construction or the healthcare industries needing always on health monitoring solution, Etc. AMobile can provide professional suggestions with the company's own expertise and experience in industrial computing and communication, responsible for function design, structural design, component selection, ID design and manufacturing. In addition to ODM service, AMobile also provides OEM services. Clients who choose the OEM services. The clients choose OEM services with a product with a pre-existing design and specifications. AMobile can offer appropriate solutions to assist clients in quickly entering the manufacturing stage. After the product has been manufactured, the client only needs to focus on marketing, thus significantly reducing costs and solving issues related to production capacity.AMobile has pointed out that applications of AIoT have become more diverse. This poses a great challenge to allocating resources and the professional skills of equipment suppliers. AMobile's OEM and ODM services allow it to be a company's best partner, swiftly satisfying clients' needs from different areas and building a cost-efficient system, thereby creating a win-win situation in the market.AMobile Intelligent is committed to offer excellent customer experience and satisfaction, we provide quality products and solutions with innovations that connects the world with intelligent technologies.

The Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC) and the DotAsia Organisation (DotAsia) signed a MoU of bilateral collaboration on March 24 under the witness of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The two registries for ccTLD and gTLD have established a Fast Track mechanism via Trusted Notifiers to initiate a collaborative model with timely reporting and fast response to effectively combat cross-border cybercrime in relations to DNS (Domain Name System) abuse.Jia-Rong Low, Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement and Managing Director, APAC, ICANN said that DNS abuse is an emerging issue within global Internet community because of the increasing threats for cyber security. Low was honored to be a witness at this MoU signing ceremony, and he was also very heartened that TWNIC and DotAsia were moving ahead to establish a Trusted Notifier mechanism to reduce DNS abuse and to make the Internet safer and more secure as well as strengthen the entire cyber ecosystem.TWNIC is the registry for .tw, country code top-level-domain (ccTLD) representing Taiwan, and DotAsia is the registry for the .asia, general top-level-domain (gTLD). Through the collaboration of ccTLD and gTLD, TWNIC and DotAsia are committed to a consistent adherence to a high level of substantive and procedural due diligence with respect to accuracy of reporting under the to-be-developed anti-phishing Fast Track mechanism.By means of this collaboration MoU, TWNIC and DotAsia demonstrates its commitment to the fight against illegal and/or fraudulent activities in the context of phishing and cements its reputation as a benchmark organisation in this field.With the past experiences, for instance, when illegal activities related to DNS abuse occurred, a registry would collaborate with the judiciary in the hope of getting the website to take down through law enforcement. However, it could take a very longer time for judicial authorities to determine whether it was an illegal activity, and it could be even more difficult to conduct legal actions if the domain name registrants were outside Taiwan. Therefore, TWNIC and DotAsia decided to collaborate with each other through information exchange and mutual recognition as the trusted notifier. By doing so, when either TWNIC or DotAsia receives the notification via Fast Track mechanism, it is able to immediately take appropriate actions under the domain name registration agreement to reduce the cybercrime impact.Kenny Huang, CEO of TWNIC pointed out that according to statistics, more than 920,000 cyber incidents related to DNS abuse were being reported every year in Taiwan, and these incidents would need to go through the current judicial procedures, showing that the traditional collaboration with law enforcement agencies may require much longer time to achieve the purpose of safeguarding cyber security. Therefore, TWNIC hoped to collaborate with different registries, like the MoU signed with DotAsia, to jointly curb cybercrime and build a safer Internet environment for Taiwan. This collaboration between different top-level domain name registries was the first time in the world, hoping that more registries would join efforts in the future to build a safer and better Internet for everyone.According to the TWNIC's Domain Name Registration Agreement, the registration and use of the domain name, if third parties' rights and interests could be influenced or if the safety or operation of the Internet could be harmed due to reasons that could be attributed to the registrant, TWNIC may, on its own or upon receiving the competent authority's notification, suspend or otherwise take action against a registered domain name, depending on the situation. Said causing harm to the safety or operation of the Internet refers to the actions or activities including, but not limited to, registering a domain name to conduct botnets, malware, pharming, phishing, and spam. The registrant shall ensure the completeness and safety of the information security systems in its application and use of the domain name.Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia Organisation said that as the Internet became an indispensable part of modern life, cyber security threats also became a top priority to be safeguarded with a safer and more resilient protection mechanism. As DotAsia had had a long and fruitful relationship with TWNIC for many years, he hoped that this announcement with TWNIC represented a concrete step towards establishing an effective mechanism to enhance mitigation against DNS abuse and phishing. Meanwhile, based on this collaboration, he also hoped that other top-level domain registries in the region and beyond would take part in this work to make a real difference for safer Internet for the people in Asia and around the world.Kenny Huang (from left to right), Managing Director and CEO, TWNIC; Edmon Chung, CEO, DotAsia Organisation; and Jia-Rong Low, Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement and Managing Director, APAC, ICANN.Kenny Huang, Managing Director and CEO, TWNICEdmon Chung, CEO, DotAsia OrganisationJia-Rong Low, Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement and Managing Director, APAC, ICANNPhotos: TWNIC

Digi-Key Electronics, which offers the world's largest selection of electronic components in stock for immediate shipment, has been honored by Global Connector Technology (GCT) as the winner of its Distributor of the Year Award for 2021.GCT is a leading supplier of standard and custom interconnect products, with a proven record in providing high quality connector solutions for more than 30 years. Digi-Key was recognized with the award for its commitment to supporting its partnership with GCT and outstanding sales."We would like to thank GCT for recognizing Digi-Key Electronics as their Distributor of the Year for 2021," said David Stein, vice president of global supplier management for Digi-Key. "This award would not have been possible without the consistent support of the people of GCT and their quality products, our customers who appreciate their products, and all of the people at Digi-Key that make it happen each and every day. We look forward to the year ahead and our mutual continued growth.""Digi-Key Electronics is a worthy winner of this award for 2021, a year in which our companies strengthened our partnership and generated outstanding sales revenue growth, more than doubling 2020 levels," said Laurence Hill, managing director at GCT. "Working together, we made significant strides in expanding end customer count, SKUs stocked and many other important transactional metrics. We deeply value the extensive portfolio access that Digi-Key provides for our current and future customers."Visit the Digi-Key website to view the full list of GCT products available through Digi-Key.Digi-Key's Levy Olson, Jerome Bakke, Paul Hejlik and Brandon Tougas were presented with the Distributor of the Year award from GCT during a virtual presentation.

STAr Technologies, a leading supplier of semiconductor reliability test systems, announced the shipment of the all-in-one SMU-per-pin test system, the STAr Pluto-hiVIP, to benchmark the semiconductor test reliability system industry. The system is configured for low/high current dynamic AC electromigration and burn-in testing for high pin count devices such as TSV, copper-pillar, micro-bump, etc. and also high voltage, high power HCI & NBTI HCI/NBTI & high voltage GOI reliability tests.The STAr Pluto Series system is the next generation reliability test solutions for both package-level and wafer-level qualification and supports a wide range of configurations to meet industry testing requirements for EM, HCI, NBTI, TDDB, etc. The new STAr Pluto-hiVIP model of the Pluto Series is an advanced high-current & high-voltage test system with flexible architecture that can be easily upgraded to a high-capacity system to support multiple applications within one system.The maximum configuration comprises 48 Source-Measurement Unit (SMU) modules, each with dual independent sources. A total of 96 sources allows high DUT count to achieve greater qualification test performance and significantly increases the capacity for high-current and high-voltage reliability tests.STAr Pluto hiVIP is a complete, integrated package-level and high temperature reliability test solution designed to support high-current EM, high-power HCI/BTI and high-voltage TDDB qualification. The system is designed for parallel stressing and testing, supporting up to a max of 4.0A DC, and high breakdown voltage of up to 100V. With thermal chambers ranging from 18C to 400C, with DUT board equipped with zero-insertion-force sockets ensures complete set of environments suitable for the full suite of reliability tests from room temperature HCI to high temperature EM tests within a single system. Pluto hiVIP system is ensured to main high precision test result and qualification performance."This shipment validates the STAr Pluto family extraordinary capabilities, efficiency and test accuracy recognized by industry customers. The Pluto Series system is based on new hardware and software architecture to address today and future's semiconductor qualification test requirements and reduces engineering efforts to support customers achieve the best test performance and higher capacity," said ChoonLeong Lou, CEO & CTO of STAr Technologies.

AMICCOM released a new generation of low current sub1-GHz wireless SOCs in March 2022, named A9129F6, A9139F6, and A9159F6. AMICCOM continues to integrate the existing RFICs with MCU and roll-out highly integrated SOC products. The new A91x9F6 SOCs, like their previous generation products, come from integrating MCU with A7129/A7139/A7159 RFICs, which have excellent RF performance and extremely low receiving current.The package and pin definition of these new SOCs are fully compatible with the previous generation products. Besides, the maximum data rate is increased to 500Kbps, the internal memory configuration is expanded to 64KBytes for Flash and 8KBytes for SRAM to meet the needs of various system applications.The A91x9F6 series are the wireless SOC with low receiving current, the RX current is only 7.3mA when MCU is sleeping. The RF modulation supports FSK and GFSK, the data rate can be 2kbps to 500kbps, RX sensitivity for 2kbps at 433.92MHz is -119dBm, and the RF transmit power is programmable (the range of A9129F6 is -25dBm to +12dBm and the range of A9139F6/A9159F6 is -17dBm to +19.5dBm), the maximum link budget can reach 138dB, which is suitable for long-distance transmission applications. The A91x9F6 chip supports FIFO mode with built-in TXFIFO packet format (including FEC, CRC and Manchester encoding function etc.), and the Auto Calibration mechanism inside the chip is used to overcome the variation of the semiconductor process so that the chip can work stably in various environments.The MCU of A91x9F6 is 1T 8051 core, the speed of the MCU can be adjust by applications. It equip a variety of digital interfaces such as UART, I2C, I2S, SPI, four PWM outputs, three 16-bit timers and two 8-bit timers, these interfaces share pins with 32 GPIOs. A91x9F6 is equipped with two ADCs: 12bit and 8bit ADC respectively. The 12bit ADC provides 8 channels to measure external signals; the 8bit ADC provides RSSI measurement value, which can be used to detect RF channel is clean or not.Overall, the A91x9F6, with a fast 8051 MCU core, is a low current Sub-1GHz wireless SOC. All functions are integrated in the QFN6x6 package to provide customers a high-integration wireless solution.Supply and PackagingA9129F6/A9139F6/A9159F6 are available in a 6mm x 6mm QFN-48 package, and is now available from AMICCOM and its authorized distributors. Welcome to request IC samples and evaluation modules, and start development work. Please contact AMICCOM Electronics for more detail.

AMICCOM Electronics Corporation (AMICCOM) has announced a new 2.4GHz wireless transceiver SOC named A8131M0. The A8131M0 supports data rate 250kbps to 2Mbps with FSK modulation. This chip integrates high performance Arm Cortex-M0, built-in 128Kbyte/256Kbyte flash memory, 32Kbytes SRAM, 23 GPIOs and various digital interfaces, and 2-wire ICE can be developed with Keil C.The maximum TX Power of A8131M0 is +5dBm, the receiving sensitivity is -90dBm (@2 Mbps FSK), the maximum Link budget is 95dB so that the transmission distance can reach 100 meters. The A8131M0 also integrates a DC-DC converter to provide efficient power applications. With input voltage 3.3V for DC-DC converter, A8131M0 RX mode current is 8.3mA, TX mode current is 10.3mA (+5dBm). It also supports programmable RF output power (-30dBm to +5dBm) and programmable data rate (250kbps to 2Mbps).The MCU core of A8131M0 is Arm Cortex-M0, which can provide fast computing, user can adjust the MCU speed according to the overall power consumption requirements. A8131M0 has a flexible power management system, the current consumption in deep sleep mode is 300nA and the current consumption in sleep mode with internal timer (32KHz) turned-on is 1.2uA.Moreover, the accuracy of internal timer (32KHz) after calibration can reach +/- 0.2 %. The A8131M0 has a built-in AES128 co-processor which provides data protection and security. All above features make A8131M0 suitable for various low-power IOT applications. A8131M0 is equipped with a variety of digital interfaces such as UART, I2C, SPI. It has 7 PWM outputs, two 32-bit timers and one 32-bit dual mode timer. These interfaces share pins with 23 GPIOs, which can be used according to user's application requirements.A8131M0 is also equipped with 12bit ADC, which provides up to 7 channels for external signal measurement. Overall, the A8131M0 is a wireless transceiver SOC with high performance and low power consumption. It has excellent RF performance with 5dBm output power amplifier, and supports a variety of digital interfaces and I/O. All functions are integrated in the QFN5x5 package.Supply and packagingA8131M0 package is 5 mm x 5 mm QFN-40 and is now available from AMICCOM and its authorized distributors. Welcome to request IC samples and evaluation modules, and start development work. Please contact AMICCOM Electronics for more detail.

Relimetrics, a leader in AI-based quality inspection for manufacturing processes, has announced that the detection accuracy and availability of its software systems will be guaranteed and that this guarantee is backed by the Munich Re Group, one of the world's leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance and insurance-related risk solutions.With the high degree of customization required in manufacturing today, quality inspections are becoming increasingly more complex. Current quality assurance (QA) solutions are not able to keep up with the high level of production variability on the shop floor, according to Relimetrics. Consequently, defects are often missed, resulting in costly rework and recall costs, as well as liability and reputation issues.Relimetrics said its shop-floor ready software stack remedies these issues, enabling manufacturers to digitize visual inspections and create full traceability of quality in all stages of production. Users of Relimetrics' technology benefit from enhanced product quality, increased productivity and higher throughput. ReliVision, Relimetrics' product suite, is self-implementable and can be quickly integrated with any image acquisition hardware.Prior to granting coverage through its aiSure program, Munich Re conducted an extensive due diligence on Relimetrics' ReliVision technology. As a result, the policy issued via the Munich Re Group agrees to indemnify Relimetrics for its liability to its customers under the warranty for Relimetrics' customer expenses related to the costs of hiring a manual operator, should the technology not work as expected."Munich Re's insurance reimburses Relimetrics for its warranty liabilities to its customers in case the AI-based ReliVision does not perform as guaranteed. This signals trust to Relimetrics' customers and at the same time takes the risk of unintended performance off the Relimetrics balance sheet," said Roman Beilhack, global head of Green Technologies, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence at Munich Re.Both of the following scenarios are covered under the guarantee: Mistakes in filtering out intact elements leading to unnecessary interruptions in operation; and failure to detect actual defects leading to loss of quality, damage to reputation and penalties."Munich Re's insuring of Relimetrics' product is a first of its kind in the quality assurance automation industry," said Kemal Levi, founder and CEO at Relimetrics. "This insurance and due diligence by Munich Re should give manufacturers the confidence to move forward with replacing ineffective and outdated quality assurance solutions with Relimetrics' AI-based product suite."Relimetrics empowers manufacturers with AI-based automation systems that guarantee defect detection accuracy and shop-floor availability. With hubs in Silicon Valley and Berlin, Relimetrics is working with leading Fortune 500 companies, helping them digitize their quality assurance and assembly processes.Relimetrics demonstrating how their systems workPhoto: Relimetrics

As global brands have adopted ESG into their corporate strategy, related policies have also been extended to the global supply chain. ESG rankings have become a trending topic. To help Taiwan businesses meet the standards of international markets, Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, today released the inaugural edition of "ESG Competitiveness Analysis for Taiwan Supply Chain," the only global ESG analysis that is built from all five leading sustainability frameworks and provides fair and objective recommendations. According to the analysis, Taiwan is ranked 7th out of 11 countries and regions surveyed in sustainability, with opportunities for improvement.The "ESG Competitiveness Analysis for Taiwan Supply Chain" surveyed the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Ireland, the United States, and New Zealand. With the largest business intelligence database in the world, Dun & Bradstreet aims to expand the global coverage of its ESG rankings to over a hundred countries and regions this year and offer the global supply chain a single measurable standard.Among the 11 countries and regions evaluated, the United Kingdom ranks the highest in ESG performance, followed by Germany; Taiwan ranks at the 50th percentile, slightly ahead of Australia, Ireland, the United States, and New Zealand. Smaller score indicates better performance.Taiwan businesses excel in social and governance categories with opportunities for improvement in environmental areasUsing its long-term accumulated industry knowledge of Taiwan, Dun & Bradstreet ranked 691 Taiwan suppliers serving the six leading manufacturers that made the Fortune Global 500 list: Hon Hai Precision Industry, Pegatron, TSMC, Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, and Wistron. The survey categorized the suppliers into six tiers according to their positions in the supply chain and conducted analysis on environmental, social, and governance factors.In general, 691 Taiwan suppliers performed relatively well in social and governance categories, thanks to Taiwan government's long-term interest in these areas. On the other hand, there still exist challenges to be resolved in the environmental category. Based on observations, emission reduction and management driven by the government is necessary, as Taiwan aims to achieve net zero by 2050.If analyzed by tiers, the performance of businesses in tier 1 to 3 outshined other tiers, as suppliers and leading manufacturers in these categories share a direct relationship and face more scrutiny. On the contrary, businesses in tiers 4 to 6 are less correlated, hence explaining their greater opportunities for improvement in scores.Taiwan businesses excel in social and governance categories with opportunities for improvement in environmental factors.Implementing ESG is critical for Taiwan businesses to unlock the value of the global supply chainDun & Bradstreet also conducted an analysis of 716 Taiwanese suppliers of Fortune Global 100 companies. These companies span across industries including energy conversion and management, ICT, and more, with total revenue accounting for 59% of Taiwan's annual GDP in 2020. They are pillars of Taiwan's economy. Dun & Bradstreet research found that their excellent revenue performance is also reflected in their ESG practices. These 716 suppliers earned an average ESG score of 1.73, which is significantly higher than Taiwan's overall average of 2.56, and better than the performance of other countries and regions. This indicates that Taiwan companies not only excel in R&D, but outperform their international counterparts in sustainability as well. As ESG becomes more mainstream, it becomes critical for businesses to unlock the value of the global supply chain."ESG has obviously become the entry ticket for small and medium-sized enterprises to the global supply chain, but the evaluations are not standardized on the market," said Michelle Sun, General Manager of Dun & Bradstreet Taiwan. "Through our ESG intelligence, built from deep coverage of public and private companies in Taiwan, coupled with the top five standards, Dun & Bradstreet hopes to reveal data-driven insights that are comprehensive and objective, enabling Taiwan businesses to review and put their ESG goals into practice, while strengthening their competitiveness on the global market."Dun & Bradstreet provides business data and public ESG-related information of 27+ million public and private companies worldwide. Dun & Bradstreet's ESG services are created from objective data modeling and third-party processes. Its ESG rankings, structured around leading sustainability frameworks, SASB, GRI, UN SDGs, TCFD, UN PRI, provide a single benchmark to enable companies balance short-term profitability and long-term competitiveness.Among the 11 countries and regions evaluated, the United Kingdom ranks the highest in ESG performance, followed by Germany; Taiwan ranks at the 50th percentile, slightly ahead of Australia, Ireland, the United States, and New Zealand. Smaller score indicates better performance.