IoT application has an enormous impact in different industries nowadays. Since the pandemic COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, IoT technology becomes a necessary tool for everything. However, with many years of development, IoT technologies and solutions have gradually matured but the applications are not able to be used as everyone expected. The reason behind it is that most of the IoT solutions are often created by startup teams, which are likely to run out of resources in the early stage of development and unable to proceed to pilot production or field testing, not to mention mass production, rapid replication and application scope expansion.In order to help IoT startups overcome challenges and successfully bring their products to mass production, IoT Service Hub was launched under the organization of Institute for Information Industry (III) and with the support from Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs. IoT Service Hub has assisted more than 300 startup teams since its establishment. A success story among them is Oready Innovation Lab's O-take high-end virtual reality (VR) gloves.Before joined IoT Service Hub, O-take was made by a motorcycle glove connected to a development board without ID design to cover the exposed wires. IoT Service Hub introduced the development kit DSI5168 (RTL8711 AM chip) and brought in a service team to help with PCB design and layout (Chyi Jiunn Technic and SMTEK) and ID/mechanical design (Omima Design) to make a prototype glove with patented approved. In order to process the prototype to mass production, IoT Service Hub introduced IoT Integrated Service Center (IisC) of Industrial Technology Research Institute, which co-operation with Oready to modify the finger sensing performance, battery and ID design. Although O-take was under the modify stage to mass production, it already attracted some buyers to use it as a trial marketing strategy.Three major services bring IoT innovations to mass productionAccording to Ming-Hung Tsai, director, Digital Service Innovation Institute (DSI), III, the flourishing startup scene has given rise to a great number of incubators and accelerators in Taiwan. They mostly guide startups from the perspective of business operation and management, provide education training or free co-working space, or simply serve as matchmakers bridging startups and vendors. In contrast, IoT Service Hub is positioned as an accelerator that drives IoT solutions toward mass production and therefore offers services that are distinguished from conventional startup incubators. Its services centered on the idea of being a hub that aggregates co-working space and incubator guidance. The goal is to offer comprehensive guidance to help startups with promising potential optimize their creations toward marketable products, which are then handed over to IisC for further enhancement on functionality and performance until they can proceed to mass production. In sum, IoT Service Hub provides three major services - a project manager, IoT service team and domestically produced IC development kit.After a startup submits an application to join IoT Service Hub, a project manager will make an initial assessment to determine which stage of development the startup's product is in, for example, conceptualization, prototyping, small-volume pilot production or field testing, and what challenges or obstacles the startup needs to overcome. The project manager then finds vendors from the IoT service team that can help the startup tackle the challenges or obstacles and continue with their product development.The IoT service team now comprises more than 200 vendors across wide-ranging sectors. Capable of providing assistance in industrial / mechanical design, circuit design, firmware development, prototyping, certification and marketing, the team can help startups resolve whatever problems they run into during the product development cycle.IoT Service Hub's domestically produced IC development kit accelerates the progress to mass productionIoT Service Hub's domestically produced IC development kit combines the strength of Taiwan's IC industry and offers cost effective development toolkits to help startups to address the cost issue in the commercialization process. Tsai notes that startups tend to put efforts on developing the product without considering the pricing for the final marketable product. More often than not, they don't realize the cost goes too high until the stage of mass production. Then, they have to go back to searching for cheaper IC chips and try to reduce the cost so that their product can be made available at an affordable price acceptable to potential customers.IoT Service Hub's domestically produced IC development kit includes a development board made up of IC chips from Taiwan-based IC suppliers. Startups will be able to incorporate IC chips with a cost effectiveness right from the early stage of development. They only need to concentrate on miniaturization and exterior design when proceeding into mass production.Aside from a cost effectiveness, Tsai highlights three more advantages enabled by IoT Service Hub's IC development kit integrating domestically produced IC chips:First, the kit is based on a general-purpose ARM microcontroller featuring low power consumption as well as support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NB-IoT communication to accommodate IoT application development needs targeting a diversity of fields.Second, local technical support teams offer not only real-time services but also all kinds of reference designs, including how-to guides for DSI5168, DSI2598, DSI2599 and DSI5188 development boards and prototype development example documents or videos to lower the technological barrier for product development and shorten time-to-market.Third, IDEAS Chain, an IoT data platform, provides an independent cloud space for data collection. It is open to connection by an unlimited number of devices, supports multiple sensor interfaces and provides device management, graphical user interface and workflow script editor for startups to easily meet their cloud-based data gathering and processing needs during their IoT product development.Agile and iterative development makes IoT products more in line with market needs IoT Service Hub has guided more than 300 startups. To help the teams make products that are more in line with what the market needs, IoT Service Hub launched the "Enterprises raise problems; startups propose solutions" initiative in 2020. Based on future industry development and market needs and themed on smartization for specific fields, IoT Service Hub will interview enterprises to find the problems and pain points they encounter in the field, then search for solutions from the startups' products and identify and guide teams with promising potential. Through match-making events, enterprises can spot suitable products and further verify if the products match their needs. On one hand, enterprises can reduce or eliminate the trouble of incorporating digital transformation technologies themselves. On the other hand, startups can design products with market needs in mind right from scratch and keep the costs of trial-and-error to a minimum.Tsai emphasizes that going forward, IoT Service Hub will incorporate the agile and iterative development paradigm, where in startups' products will undergo field testing so that adjustments to product functions and designs can be made to cater to field requirements and the development cycles for IoT products can be shortened. The aim is to create a diversity of complete IoT solutions, which can then be quickly customized for use in different fields. Furthermore, IoT Service Hub will also actively connect with international markets and include the challenges facing overseas channels and fields in the scope of IoT solutions to be developed while forwarding the feedback from international markets to Taiwan-based IC suppliers. It is hoped that these efforts will not only help drive startup teams' IoT innovations to mass production but also help Taiwan-based IC suppliers build up their competitive edge and global presence, enabling them to capture the rising wave of IoT opportunities.Ming-Hung Tsai, director, Digital Service Innovation Institute, Institute for Information Industry

Intelligentization has become a key global trend in every industry. AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), a company that has thrived for many years in the field of optoelectronics, recently hosted the "AUO Tech Forum 2020" which invited experts from industry, academia, and government to speak about exciting developments in 4 major fields of intelligentization.In terms of smart manufacturing, Wang Shou-tian, Director of AI Platform at Edgetech, a subsidiary of AUO, gave a talk on "Smart Industry Services Under an Oasis Sky" and introduced AUO Group's current deployment and solutions in the field. He pointed out that AUO established subsidiaries Mega Insight and Edgetech to assist manufacturers in taking the first successful step towards intelligentization by providing comprehensive AIoT solutions for smart factories.Both of the companies have defined positions within smart manufacturing. Mega Insight is a company built to help the industry sustainably develop self-driven smart ecosystems, integration methods, and industrial software that provide indispensable smart manufacturing services. Edgetech's vision is to implement AI technology solutions that are innovative, practical, and competitive by fully integrating technologies and platforms to assist businesses in building an all-encompassing manufacturing platform.Based on the goals and visions above, both companies each released smart manufacturing solutions. Mega Insight's industrial AIoT platform integrates the maturation levels of various industries with industrial software and provides professional consulting to assist manufacturers in building optimized smart manufacturing systems. Edgetech focuses on AI, allowing manufacturers to build self-learning, self-training AI systems. Combining the platforms of Mega Insight and Edgetech enables manufacturers with a comprehensive smart manufacturing architecture from cloud to edge that successfully activates their digital transformation.In order to realize the visions of intelligentization, it's imperative to identify pain points to pinpoint a company's requirements and build suitable systems. During the topic of "Next Gen Smart Factory," ADLINK IoT Solution & Technology Director Yang Jia-wei spoke about the necessary concepts needed by manufacturers in the smart era. He mentioned that 3 major factors are critical in building smart systems, including equipment data, professionalism in the manufacturing industry, and field of manufacturing; once these 3 requirements are met, it's possible to select functions according to requirements. Based on the experience of ADLINK, the basic smart manufacturing functions currently available in the market include the 5 aspects of AI imaging, inspection robots, connected equipment, advanced diagnosis for equipment, and virtual repair. These technologies are mature with many application scenarios and are suitable as the basic system for manufacturers looking to take the first step towards their smart transformation. A method that caters both stability and innovation is expanding with additional systems once the foundation is stable and benefits are observable.In addition to visions and platforms, another major issue is how to assist clients achieve smart manufacturing. During his talk on "Ubiquitous Edge AI", Vincent Tseng, General Manager of APAC Region at ADLINK shared many successful cases including details on how their company helped partners integrate software and hardware to help land smart manufacturing. For instance, designing non-invasive systems to reduce the rate of erroneous reports. By adding plug-ins to existing AOI systems, solutions can be rapidly implemented and used while also protecting a company's previous investments. The result is effectively reducing more than 90% of erroneous reports, shortening processes, and improving unit production capacity. Vincent Tseng also introduced AI anomaly detection software and a smart hearthstone vibration monitoring platform. Both systems were smart manufacturing solutions built in collaboration between ADLINK and partners that allowed existing production systems to generate significant benefits.Robotic arms have long been viewed as the representative technology in automation. Based on their long years of experience in collaborative robots, Techman Robot has risen to the world's second largest brand in industrial cobots. During the forum, Techman Robot Director Hsiao Yi-lung spoke at length on the "Vision of Robotic Manufacturing". He points out that the manufacturing industry has changed from mass production to a production model with high variation and low volume. Due to this trend, traditional robotic arms can no longer satisfy the flexibility requirements of manufacturing systems. This will give rise to cobots that are lightweight, allow human collaboration, can be used across production lines, and are simple to control; these robots will play a key role in future production lines. At the same time, he expressed that robotic arms will transform from being hardware oriented to focus on hardware software integration in the smart era to expand the diversity and value of equipment.MIRLE is one of the leading domestic companies in the field of automation; over the recent years, the company has been assertive in promoting smart manufacturing strategies. During his talk on "Intelligentization, New Logistics - Smart Factory Solutions", Marketing Director Chen Jian-sheng of MIRLE pointed out that their company began in the production of traditional manufacturing equipment before pivoting and launching excellent products in the 3 major fields of semiconductors, optoelectronics, and new logistics. In terms of logistics, he introduced the company's "Automatic Material Handling System" (AHMS) which is widely implemented in semiconductor manufacturing by assisting clients in building a material transport system that maximizes the use of space. Due to the fact that this system is closely related to the design of manufacturing sites, MIRLE provides a detailed assessment plan to help clients successfully implement the system to maximum efficiency and gain a stable foothold in their highly competitive markets.Edgetech Director of AI Platform Wang Shou-tian gave his talk "Smart Industry Services under an Oasis Sky" at AUO Tech ForumAUO subsidiaries Mega Insight and Edgetech provide comprehensive AIoT smart factory solutionsADLINK and partners demonstrate various smart manufacturing solutions

The global market has seen unprecedented changes in recent years, including trade tension between US-China, which started in 2018 and spurred a supply chain reshuffle that changed what the industry was used to; and the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, which forced businesses to rethink their operations. However, it's not all bad news. Good things are happening. For example, US, China and Korea kicked off 5G commercial operation in 2019 with more countries following suit in 2020. 5G communication is expected to connect the last mile to smart systems and open the door to new-generation IT applications. These three major changes will reshape wireless communication technologies, said Alex Wang, Compal Broadband CEO & BOD.Founded in 2009, Compal Broadband Networks is a member of the Compal Corporate Group with a focus on home broadband communication products. For cable networks, Compal Broadband Networks provides Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) compliant products encompassing DOCSIS 3.0 all the way to DOCSIS 4.0 devices that are developed in close collaboration with communication chip suppliers. Compal Broadband's wireless communication product portfolio includes two major groups - sub 6GHz and mmWave solutions, which are the results of the company's strengthened efforts toward the 5G market, and Wi-Fi products, particularly those that support the new-generation Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E under development. These products are being marketed around the globe.Compal Broadband Networks started out as an electronics manufacturing service (EMS) provider and later established its own brand CBN. With market footprints throughout Europe as well as Central America, Compal Broadband Networks mainly sells products to European markets, serving almost every cable TV operator in the region. CBN enjoys a 40% share of the home broadband communication market.One-stop service creates unparalleled advantagesCompal Broadband Networks has been able to deliver such outstanding performance in just 11 years. Aside from expressing gratitude for customers' support, Wang attributes the company's success to two elements - the advantages enabled by the Compal Corporate Group's resources and Compal Broadband??s ability to provide customization services accumulated through the years. As a member of the Compal Corporate Group, which is the world's largest computer manufacturer, Compal Broadband Networks not only has a robust engineering workforce of its own but can also tap into the corporation's consolidated R&D resources. On top of that, with centralized procurement, it has absolute advantages in price negotiations with suppliers. Its long-term partnerships with leading international chip makers also enable Compal Broadband Networks to market competitive products with compelling cost-performance ratios and higher levels of technological integration. As a member of the Taiwan 5G Alliance, Compal Broadband Networks can leverage the Compal Corporate Group's advantages in 5G modules while gaining first-hand information on network communication customers' needs so it can quickly combine 5G and network communication resources and thereby introduce products with shorter time-to-market compared to its competitors. Moreover, Compal Broadband's products can work in connection with other repeaters to help businesses and consumers address the challenges they face.Apart from access to corporate resources, Compal Broadband Network's customization ability is also what allows the company to win customer support. Wang speaks candidly that the network communication industry has developed mature technologies and is experienced enough to quickly catch up with new standards that are constantly being released. Under such circumstances, services become the key to success. Wang gives an example in which Compal Broadband Networks was asked by Europe??s top three cable TV operators to incorporate some required functions into its home networking equipment. The Compal Broadband Networks team was able to swiftly modify the product design and add the required functions.The example fully demonstrates Compal Broadband Network's capability in product R&D and manufacturing. Most network communication device suppliers do not engage in in-house design and production but instead only design the product independently and outsource the production to OEM. To brand vendors, this business model allows them to lower operation costs but makes it difficult for them to control delivery schedule. In contrast, Compal Broadband Networks provides one-stop service including product design, manufacturing and marketing so it can more promptly respond to customer needs. According to Wang, under Compal Broadband Network's system of operation, after sales specialists understand a customer's needs, they forward the information to the engineering team to begin design work and at the same time, the manufacturing team allocates production capacity based on the customer's order. This ensures the products are delivered on schedule and on par with the required quality. Close collaborations across different Compal Broadband Networks teams have generated a wealth of success stories and are the main reason why Compal Broadband Networks is able to remain a frontrunner in the competitive home networking market.Close teamwork to meet market requirementsWang notes that Compal Broadband will maintain its market strategy going forward. He adds that 5G competition is what sparked the US-China trade war. American and European industries and governments are making every effort to grab 5G opportunities. The governments offer all types of subsidies to spur industry growth and have begun spectrum auctions over the recent two years. The industries are eyeing enormous Industry 4.0 business opportunities. In addition to telecom operators that are aggressively rolling out 5G services, market newcomers are joining the game while engaging in a diversity of cross-sector partnerships. The most iconic would be the partnerships between mobile service providers and cable network operators.Mobile service providers and cable network operators have been targeting separate market segments. It was once thought that they are to engage in competitions after 5G communication gives rise to burgeoning smart systems which have diverse communication requirements. Wang has a different opinion. In consideration of the small coverage and high density of 5G base stations, widespread cable networks become the best choice to offload 5G traffic from the backhaul network as a way to save costs. This breaks the barrier between mobile and fixed networks and spikes the demand for communication devices for such purposes. Compal Broadband already includes 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) equipment in its product portfolio and plans to offer customization service tailored to customer needs going forward.As to broadband network, governments around the world are strongly pushing their broadband network build-up. American and European telecom operators and cable network operators are struggling to meet rapidly growing consumer needs for network bandwidth. Compal Broadband has established market presence in North America, Latin America and Asia for many years and has gained first-hand insight into the market trend, based on which it launched a series of home networking devices for use in different surroundings. Taking smart gateways for example, Wang points out a growing number of suppliers are forming an ecosystem to strengthen the software functionalities of smart gateways. Compal Broadband Networks has taken a step ahead and developed for customers hardware and software integrated products with customization available to suit different regions.In view of the global trend, Wang thinks broadband communication has become crucial demand in today's world so the market will only grow larger and larger. He also makes it clear that technology and service are the two keys to securing market share. Customized design service is especially what suppliers can rely on to build and maintain a competitive edge. Going forward, Compal Broadband will continue to strengthen its technology research and design capabilities and provide customers a diverse range of premium quality services.Alex Wang, Compal Broadband Networks CEO & BODPhoto: DIGITIMES

The implementation of innovative technologies and AI have changed the face of retail as companies develop various smart solutions to assist retailers with transformations. During the smart retail forum hosted by AUO, Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) analyst Dr Liao Yan-yi pointed towards a study by the US National Retail Federation stating how 80% of corporate investments by global consumer brands and retail channels are in smart AI technologies.However, she repeatedly emphasized that "the focus of smart retail is on 'retail' as opposed to 'smart,' so any use of smart technologies must be based on the needs of retailers and consumers."Pandemic accelerates trends in smart retailAs if echoing the words of analyst Liao Yan-yi, CEO and Chairman Hank Liu of AUO subsidiary ComQi-JohnRyan pointed out that due to the impact of COVID-19, retailers have turned aggressively to smart technologies to solve their problems. This has resulted in many innovative applications such as unmanned stores, smart vending machines, self-driving delivery vehicles, or even logistics robots in order to maintain social distancing during this pandemic. However, any introduction of smart technologies must return to the nature of providing solutions to consumers and assisting retailers with improving operational efficiency.When there is a shortage of labor, digital information display and integration with various functions become especially important. AUO provides a comprehensive smart retail solution which at its core integrates digital signage with cloud management platforms, smart shelves, POS, and customer interaction technologies for mobilize businesses to quickly transform into smart retail in response to the challenges of this pandemic.Building smart retail that enhances customer experiencesSmart retail solutions provided by AUO has helped many Taiwanese retailers begin their smart transformations; Aeon Motor CEO Tony Lin was present at the forum to speak about how the company is a prime example. In 2019, Aeon Motor released their first electric scooter Ai-1 Sport. In order to provide an enhanced customer experience, they built a smart retail location based on solutions by AUO.Aeon Motor's smart retail experience utilized interactive displays by AUO which integrated large spliced wall displays and multimedia equipment in a cloud content management platform. One single piece of playback equipment was used to handle 3 types of spliced playback modes including full screen display, a 9-grid synchronous display, or 9-grid independent display; the wall can be toggled between the 3 modes at will.It's worth mentioning that these interactive display solutions could also be linked and streamed online to all nationwide retail locations. Aeon Motor utilized the solution's flexibility to host a nationwide online media event to attract massive public attention. This year, Aeon Motor expects to expand to 35 smart retail locations, each with large display walls, throughout Taiwan. Tony Lin stated that "traditional decor becomes dated with time, but using display walls as part of the decor allows us to keep them constantly updated."Creating new value with retail as a serviceSHUI-MU International also used AUO smart solutions to innovative their business model. SHUI-MU International, a company with 68 years of history, realized the downturn trend of traditional retail and began to make changes 4 years ago. General Manager Michelle Kuo of SHUI-MU International emphasized that "our goal was to create new value in retail services and while we fearlessly explored innovative methods, the team at AUO was the only partner willing to fully devote themselves to working with us."By utilizing smart solutions provided by AUO, SHUI-MU International created the retail as a service model to rebrand A.S.O retail locations from merely selling shoes to becoming community health stations. A.S.O expanded on this to establish posture and balance centers, sports centers to reverse aging, and released dynamic foot pressure measurement services by utilizing technologies such as displays and cloud management provided by AUO to drive A.S.O retail towards a compound operation model."In the future, we look forward to utilizing smart display solutions to provide our customers with remote consulting services," said Michelle Kuo.Integrating software/hardware solutions in concept storesYYsports, a subsidiary of Pou Sheng International (Holdings) Limited is a comprehensive sports service distribution channel that provides various sporting goods and sports experiences. With the support of AUO subsidiary Space4M, YYsports was able to create a mesmerizing concept store in Hsinchu. Space4M utilized core technologies such as a digital content playback management system through a cloud platform to provide integration of old and new hardware/software services for both online/offline and virtual/physical locations to enhance customer experiences for the brand, merchant, and site owner.YYsports General Manager Wang Wen-xin introduced the concept store's latest equipment such as a unique 270 degree fitting studio that utilized "bullet time" filming technology to capture images through 16 professional cameras to form a near panoramic image. The system helps customers make better choices by providing both frontal and rear views during fitting.Additionally, the concept store includes a running lab that allows controls for humidity, temperature, and wind speed to simulate frigid, desert, and windy environments that allow customers to test the functionality of performance wear in these scenarios.Listening to retailers to satisfy real demandsIn the final forum, Associate VP of AUO Smart Retail Division Lin Pei-hong pointed out in his conclusion that throughout the process of innovation, retailers expect their technology partners to understand their language; meanwhile, technology suppliers must assist retailers make good use of digital tools by developing solutions that meet real needs.Generally speaking, most retailers have acknowledged the necessity of smart retail innovation. Powerful technologies have opened up even more possibilities that allow retailers to crossover from product sales to integrated service models or even create lifestyles. As an "on-site solutions provider," AUO has earned the trust of our retail clients and will continue to invest the group's resources into various fields of application.ComQi chairman and CEO Hank Liu presented at AUO Tech Forum 2020Associate VP of AUO Smart Retail Division Pei-hong Lin concluded that IT companies need to assist retailers to target the retail industry's needsAUO's comprehensive smart retail solution is integrated with cloud management platforms, smart shelves, POS, and customer interaction technologies

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The era of AI is coming. It will not be long before our cities operate efficiently with tremendous amounts of devices and robots connected through 5G infrastructure with enough bandwidth for data handling and transferring. In order to analyze the huge amount of data coming from massive amount of edge devices (50B units by 2025), High Performance Computing (HPC) device is one of the key essential elements required for both end-terminals and also edge computing. Hence, the design and assembly of HPC chips is critical for semiconductor industry to address so that the bright AI enabled future for the society can be realized.Heterogeneous integration: A back-end scaling approach to achieve more-than-MooreThe Moore's Law has guided the semiconductor industry for many decades. However, it is approaching to the limit when the node size gets smaller than 14nm/10nm. Meanwhile, advanced node development has to be continued. To reduce the financial commitment for future node development, Heterogeneous Integration (HI) is the way forward. Switching from "only front-end node scaling" to "combination with back-end scaling," HI is a backend approach by means of advanced packaging technologies to integrate multiple chiplets, with different functionalities and each fabricated with best fit node in terms of technology and economic aspects, to reassemble an SoC (System on Chip) like function.Impact of HI evolution to the supply chainWith the continued development of HI, we see significant impact on the supply chain for the industry. In the past, each player such as wafer foundry, OSAT and substrate supplier stays in his or her focus area. Nowadays, with HI, it opens up more business opportunities for each player by enlarging their served available market. Foundry is stepping into the advanced package assembly business; substrate house is also getting into the assembly process by offering passive and active embedding capability along with their substrate business. Although OSATs seem to be in a keen competition from both the foundry and substrate house, they are also pushing the development of more cost effective packaging technology to cope with the emerging but massive requirements of Edge and IoT devices required by the Al world. Without doubt, they will be facing many new technical challenges in the associated processes, critical material and enabling equipment.In order to shorten the development time in the advance packaging, working with a high-end equipment supplier - ASM Pacific Technology Ltd. can share their years-experience in R&D to overcome the challenges and save the cost. To build our AI future and enable the digital world, ASMPT will expect a greater collaboration and co-development work, together with different parties.Please visit https://www.asmpacific.com/en/articles/ for full text.There are different HI approaches currently and some are already in volume production modeImpact of HI evolution to the supply chain

Demand for digital transformations has risen sharply in the post-pandemic era. At the "smart healthcare" sub forum during "AUO Tech Forum 2020," the company and its partners displayed innovative integration of AIoT and display technologies to assist healthcare industries in finding key opportunities for smart upgrades.Displays are key devices in smart hospitals, with 4K and 3D soon to become main streamChang Tsz-yin, leader of the ITRI Biomedical Technology and Device Research Lab was the first to take the stage with an analysis of the current conditions and future outlook of smart healthcare. She pointed out that any ICT technology solutions relating to medical decision-making, enhancing doctor-patient relations, improving operational efficiency, simplifying administrative processes, or optimizing service processes could be selected as long as they solve the problems and pain points in the field of medicine.Chang Tsz-yin mentioned that as we enter the era of healthcare 4.0, there is an emphasis of big data, IoT , AI integrated decision-making and interpretation, as well as connecting different clinical operations and information systems. Medical displays are an indispensable technology in smart hospitals as they assist physicians with visualizing the conditions within a patient's body for clinicopathological diagnosis and displaying treatment progress; 4K and 3D displays are expected to become mainstream in medical imaging applications due to their enhanced clarity.MedicalTek CEO Jack Liu stated that while there are numerous methods of treatment, physicians still rely on surgical treatments at critical junctures; utilizing technology to build safe, high quality surgical models is extremely important.Technological advancements have replaced traditional open surgery with minimally invasive surgeries. Operating theatres have become areas with high display density as physicians utilize endoscopes and displays to view patient lesions, thereby making requirements for picture quality even higher. Display resolutions have gone from SD, 2K all the way to improved full color gamut, improved resolution of reds, and better emphasis of ICG fluorescence in 4K and 8K displays to help doctors identify lesions with enhanced clarity.Eddie Huang, the NVIDIA Solution Architect Director of Healthcare mentioned that models are the soul of AI. When problem solving within industries, single modules are rarely utilized; instead, multiple modules are often linked as jobs, then multiple jobs are linked to form pipelines. Due to this complicated architecture, NVIDIA developed a data center platform architecture to assist users with the acceleration of end-to-end processes; additionally, the NVIDIA Clara framework was developed for healthcare applications. It includes a wealth of reference applications and SDK so that physicians can develop AI autonomously without having to rely on IT.Reliance on professional medical displays to effectively solve pain points within the fieldAUO General Display Business Division Director Jerry Chen elaborated on the new opportunities of medical displays and sensing in the post-pandemic era. This pandemic has driven the medical field to accelerate towards digital transformations based on the theme of "ABCD" (AI, big data, cloud, and displays). AUO has accumulated strong capabilities in research and technology after years of investment in the field of medical applications. Today, the company holds more than 20% of the global market share in both professional medical displays and X-ray sensors.Jerry Chen stated that "physicians have very high expectations for displays in areas such as high definition imaging and color fidelity due to their prolonged periods of daily use". AUO designs human-centric professional medical displays to solve the pain points within the field.By utilizing 4K Deep-Red surgical displays, the company has successfully overcome the restrictions of color gamut with enhanced performance at high saturation to display multiple levels of red so that surgeons can clearly identify the differences between tissues and lesions. Diagnostic displays with high contrast ratio and wide viewing angles utilize enhanced contrast to emphasize light and dark levels so that radiologists can view fine tissue with clarity.AUO offers the world's first "super narrow bezel and true portrait" design, creating a superior visual experience to give radiologists improved image reading quality during diagnosis. A.R.T (Advanced Reflectionless Technology) displays effectively improves the visual comfort of physicians during prolonged viewings by reducing glare and reflections.The event's finale concluded with talks by Yu-li Tsai, Director of the Embedded Platform and Module Department of ADLINK Technology and Ken Yu, Chairman and CEO of imedtac. Yu-li Tsai pointed out that edge computing in medical imaging is the quickest application to land in the field of smart healthcare; While ADLINK Technology first started in designing controllers, the company formed alliances with industry leaders and behemoths such as AUO, Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm. The company developed various AIOM smart modules based on industry standards and combined them with AI-enabled machine vision systems to provide a comprehensive application-ready edge computing platform in the field of healthcare; edge video analysis (EVA) is provided to assist with simple data collection, advanced processing, model training, to complicated processes such as system deployment in healthcare.Ken Yu stated that medical institutions place an emphasis on satisfying the demands of OT (operational technology), yet rarely pay attention to the evolution of IT technologies. The reason that AI, IoT, and robotics can thrive in healthcare is due to their OT value in requiring "less focus", "less attention", and "less effort". Based on this context, imedtac invested in a series of AIoT based smart medical solutions for smart guided treatment, high-quality nursing, smart operating theatres, medical logistics, and green hospitals in the hopes of accessing foreign markets by exporting modules or planning entire hospitals.Hence, the company has held a long-term partnership with AUO as imedtac's product deployment encompasses turnkey solutions for software/hardware integration, touch displays, and the management platform's automated dispensing cabinet (ADC), all of which heavily rely on professional medical displays.Medical IoT is the cornerstone of future hospitals and is critical for conducting broad sensing and data acquisition in key areas such of outpatient clinics, wards, operating theatres, storage, disinfection, and supply rooms. By combining technologies such as AI analytics and displays, the quality and safety of healthcare can be enhanced by assisting physicians and administrators in monitoring medical processes.AUO General Display Business Division Director, Chen Yu-cun, provided a keynote on AUO Tech Forum 2020ADLINK has launched an efficient and safe intelligent diagnosis solutionAUO's professional medical care display technologies are able to assist medical staff in making accurate diagnosis

Aluminum electrolytic capacitor is a popular passive component with unique strengths of high capacitance value and cost advantage. Lelon Electronics is one of the major suppliers in the market. In an interview conducted through video conferencing, Jimmy Wu, CEO of Lelon Electronics, talks about the company's development strategy in response to the coronavirus pandemic.Q: How does Lelon respond the COVID-19 pandemic crisis to support global supply chains fulfilling the urgent orders and demands?A: In fact, the second quarter of 2020 was the peak of the outbreak. In some countries, like Malaysia, with cities on lockdown, the shipments of aluminum electrolytic capacitor had been stuck. The supply of aluminum electrolytic capacitors has been hit hard. Most of Lelon's upper stream material suppliers are from China, and some of the advanced material suppliers are from Japan. Relying on the strong connections with the material suppliers, Lelon had fully support from the material suppliers when the outbreak started. Besides, Lelon always maintains sufficient materials in stock. Therefore, Lelon didn't have any problem with raw materials. In fact, Lelon even had the resources to take a large number of orders to cover the shortage customers were facing.Q: How do you see the new booming demands such as remote office, on-line education and stay-at-home economy?A: Lelon's revenue from telecom and network customers have increased significantly this year, benefiting from the growth of demand for stay-at-home economy, work from home and distance learning amid the pandemic. As 5G going mainstream in China, its base station construction supported by government has become the key driving force for 5G infrastructure businesses. There are more than 600,000 base stations to be built across China major cities in 2020. Apart from 5G base stations, there are other associated facilities such as network equipment and servers boosting further growth of demands. In 2021, the 5G market will continue to have further growth and make Lelon benefiting the strong momentum of 5G infrastructure construction projects around the world. Lelon is the strategic supplier of Chinese and European telecommunication equipment giants. Lelon can capture the opportunities of the fast-growing 5G market.Q: Apart from 5G infrastructure demands, the medical sector seems to have a strong growth, does Lelon benefit from the market?A: The demand of medical equipment has increased due to the pandemic. Lelon's products have been adopted by many medical customers. Some of the global major medical equipment manufacturers used to get aluminum electrolytic capacitors from Japanese makers. Due to the shortage of aluminum electrolytic capacitors caused by the pandemic, we have the opportunity to prove to our European and American medical equipment customers the stability of our product quality and outstanding supply management. It's a good start for further cooperation. In the other hand, talking about China medical equipment market, Mindray, a global medical instrumentation manufacturer based in Shenzhen, selects Lelon as the major supplier of the aluminum electrolytic capacitors. From the beginning of the pandemic, we have given strong support to Mindray and other medical equipment suppliers to try our best to respond to the medical demands amid the pandemic.Q: How do you see the development of China automotive market? Is any chance for Lelon to further boost in the sales?A: For the second half of 2020, our revenue from the market segment of automotive electronics has grown significantly compared to the same period of last year, and it's expected to continue to grow in 2021. Despite significant progresses achieved globally in the struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the outlook for the pandemic remains uncertain. Therefore, the uncertainty of orders remains high. The current order situation is mostly in rush type of needs. Customers are more conservative than before. The lead time of current orders have been shortened to three to six weeks only. In such a short lead-time condition, Japanese suppliers are difficult to meet the requirements, and Lelon has the strength of flexible response. Lelon is the supplier to many of the world's tier-one automotive electronics manufacturers, at this point Lelon has become the best partner for the manufacturers of automotive electronics in China.We think the sales of the fourth quarter of 2020 is cautiously optimistic. It will compensate the order loss of the first half of 2020. The revenue from automotive electronics customers is expected to maintain 9-11% of total aluminum electrolytic capacitors revenue in 2020. This year, Lelon received "Supplier Quality Excellence Award" from General Motor. This is showcasing Lelon's long time efforts to devote to the continuous product development and quality improvement. These efforts will support Lelon to develop market in the field of automotive electronics in the near future. Energy vehicles will be one of the growth drivers in the future, Lelon has cooperated with many automotive electronics manufacturers to develop the aluminum electrolytic capacitors for 48V power supply systems, and has started shipping products to automotive electronics manufacturers in China.Q: Facing the challenges to management and business fine tuning due to the pandemics, what else does Lelon do for the adjustment?A: In addition to continuous new product development, in response to the rush orders, Lelon has adopted a highly flexible and modularized production mode, with the ability to adjust machines to produce different sizes of aluminum electrolytic capacitors quickly. Our new factory in Suzhou will be completed in the second half of 2021. The third factory in Huizhou is planned to begin operation after receiving approval from the local government. The production capacity ramping up will help Lelon embrace opportunities arising from growing markets of 5G and automotive electronics.For the first half of 2020, Lelon's EMS and distribution customers comprise 34% of the total aluminum electrolytic capacitors revenue, power and green energy customers has 18.8% share, telecom and network is 17.9%, consumer electronics and home appliance is 14.4%, automotive electronics is 7.5%, IT and cloud is 4%, industrial and medical is 3.4%.The above revenue analysis shows Lelon has a wider distribution network and diversified customer base. There is no single customer to occupy big portion of revenue. This strategy helps Lelon to absorb the impacts when a single customer or a market segment fluctuates wildly. Therefore, Lelon has a dynamically stable operation. A stable operation can support Lelon to develop and execute long term strategy for future expansion.Going forward, Lelon will continue to devote time and effort to high-end markets of electronic equipment such as automotive electronics, telecommunication, medical, green energy, cloud computing and industrial robots. Lelon develops new products according to the design requirements of the customers. In the meantime, Lelon keeps improving quality system to deliver products with high reliability to our customers. These efforts give Lelon a leading edge in a highly competitive marketplace and set a new milestone in the next stage of growth for Lelon.The pandemic and trade wars have profound effects on global economy and supply chain. The past experience can't be applied to the rapid-changing operating environment at present. However, Lelon will make the best efforts to fulfill customers' needs with short lead-time and fast services. After the outbreak brought much of the China to a halt in the first month of 2020, Lelon overcame all difficulties to maintain the operation of production lines since Chinese New Year holiday till now. Once you are determined to do something, making efforts and not giving up lead to a good result. The year of 2020 once was a big challenge for Lelon but it has become a milestone for Lelon to turn the tables and step into a new stage of growth.Jimmy Wu, CEO of Lelon ElectronicsLelon's new factory in Suzhou China will be ready for production in the 2H 2021Lelon's latest product lines of aluminum electrolytic capacitors

How do you envision the future? You may find answers at AUO Tech Forum 2020 in October. Joining forces with partners, AUO presented vertical solutions that shape a smart future and enable endless new possibilities for different industries.AUO Tech Forum 2020 was themed on four major smart application trends - smart healthcare, smart retail, smart transportation and smart manufacturing. Before exploring AUO's messages conveyed at AUO Tech Forum 2020, forget what you already know about the company as AUO will transcend from a panel maker to a vertical solution provider.Repositioning itself towards a vertical solution providerIn his opening speech, AUO chairman and CEO Paul Peng said that digital transformation is closely-connected to smart applications. Displays are critical to communication success between human and machine. The value of displays will naturally be re-defined once they are applied to smart vertical solutions.Its two decades of efforts into display manufacturing has allowed AUO to accumulate a wealth of system integration experience, which enables AUO to expand integration services across upstream, midstream and downstream as well as hardware and software sectors to bring value to system-level solutions. Going forward, AUO will work with partners based on the principles of complement, cooperation and co-creation and endeavor to become a vertical solution provider. This is also the sprit driving the "AUO NEXT" transformation.Leveraging display strength to successfully foray into smart verticalsAUO president and COO Frank Ko noted in his speech that the forum was held for the purpose of sharing how AUO can leverage its strength in innovative display technologies to enable and capture opportunities with smart verticals ecosystem partners.He envisions a "Displays Everywhere 2.0" future. With years of devotion in the display industry, AUO has secured a leading position in technologies and applications. "AUO's strength will allow us to connect displays with a range of vertical markets and technological advances including 5G communication and artificial intelligence (AI) to create innovative solutions for a diversity of application fields as the industry moves toward digital transformation," remarked Ko.For example, displays are instrumental to many online and offline integration tools that enable digital communication to break time and space barriers. These devices are critical to meeting surging work-from-home and online learning needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. AUO's displays for notebook PC, eyecare display and low reflection technology as well as large-sized interactive whiteboards play a vital role in this wave of rising trend. As to smart retail applications, although the e-commerce sector enjoys rapid growth thanks to the thriving stay-home economy, Ko thinks brick-and-mortar stores and restaurants still bring consumers the warm feeling that cannot be replaced. In the post-pandemic era, displays coupled with AI-enabled implementations will be introduced to physical retail locations at an accelerated pace. AUO's smart retail solutions combining hardware and software will expediently realize store owners' expectations.For the world's aging population, digital devices enable a myriad of healthcare innovations. AUO provides professional medical display solutions, which, coupled with 5G/AI technologies, help doctors make more accurate diagnoses. For smart transportation applications that relieve traffic congestion headaches in the process of global urbanization, displays combined with big data analytics can deliver real-time information to not only prevent traffic jams but also enhance road safety.AUO plans to establish a subsidiary in 2021 AUO Display Plus, which will focus on providing services with higher levels of flexibility, creativity and integration to vertical market customers. AUO has also created Edgetech and Mega Insight to offer smart manufacturing services on the foundation of its years of experience in display manufacturing. In addition, AUO will also join forces with ADLINK to form a robust team offering optimized smart manufacturing solutions.Ko set forth three missions that AUO will undertake in the digital transformation era. AUO will stay committed to being an "enabler" of new display technologies. Drawing on its accumulated strength, AUO will uphold its role as a "contributor" to customers' and partners' success. AUO will strive to become the best "partner" to industry members and engage in more collaborations to co-create complete smart eco-systems.Joining efforts with partners to build a smart futureADLINK chairman Jim Liu gave a speech titled "The Edge is Coming" at the forum, shedding light on the development trends of AI-powered edge computing. According to Liu, data is increasingly generated and collected at the edge. In fact, more than 70% of data is processed at the edge and 80% of AI chips are embedded in edge computing devices. He proposed the concept of "edge autonomy," wherein allowing edge devices to act autonomously will create bigger values and enable edge computing to generate maximum benefits.Also delivering a talk at the forum, Far EasTone Telecommunications vice president Eric Li explored innovative applications to be enabled by 5G communication. He highlighted how these applications can help address common challenges facing the manufacturing industry such as labor shortage and factory automation while boosting yields and improving defect detection efficiency.Zse-Hong Tsai, executive secretary, Office of Science and Technology, Executive Yuan, presented the action plans derived from the "Smart Living Display Technology and Application Industry Strategy Review Board Meeting (SRB)" to realize the vision of "Smart Living in Taiwan 2030."Tsai drew the industry's attention to how they can cope with changes in the post-pandemic era as the world moves rapidly toward digitization. "Vendors should make systematic strategic planning and look further into the future, not just two to three years but ten to twenty years, when creating product roadmaps," spoke Tsai.Going forward, AUO looks to join efforts with more partners across different industries to leverage AUO's display strength and the Taiwan government's industrial policy support to create localization opportunities in vertical markets and together drive Taiwan's global expansion.AUO chairman and CEO Paul Peng giving an opening speech, highlighting vertical markets are a strategic focus of the company's "AUO NEXT" transformationAUO president and COO Frank Ko delivering a speech titled "Innovative Display x Smart Verticals - Co-creating Industry Eco-System"Zse-Hong Tsai, executive secretary, Office of Science and Technology, Executive Yuan, sharing the action plans to realize the vision of "Smart Living in Taiwan 2030."

Digi-Key Electronics, who offers the world's largest selection of electronic components in stock for immediate shipment, announced that it will be the exclusive global distributor of the industry's most affordable ready-to-use IoT data management software for the BeagleBone platform, Machinechat JEDI One for BeagleBone."As one of the founding sponsors of BeagleBoard, Digi-Key is pleased to continue to be the leader in supporting BeagleBone developers with innovative solutions that enable them to make their IoT ideas reality," said Robbie Paul, director of IoT business solutions for Digi-Key Electronics. "With the addition of Machinechat's JEDI One for BeagleBone to our product offering, we are continuing our tradition of offering the industry's best-of-breed solutions for the BeagleBoard community."Machinechat's JEDI One is an all-in-one software application for IoT developers and solution architects to provision IoT data collection, visualization, monitoring and local storage capabilities in minutes. Offered as a single binary software application that is installed on-premise, JEDI One for BeagleBone is the industry's most affordable ready-to-use IoT software solution that enables developers and their customers to have complete control over their data, along with an advanced set of data management tools that can be leveraged in minutes."One of the key challenges for any engineer, maker or student is the time and effort it takes to develop an infrastructure for data collection, transformation, monitoring and visualization software for their IoT project," said Robert Nelson, Digi-Key principal applications engineer. "With Machinechat's JEDI One software, these steps are transformed into something that can be done quickly and cost-effectively, while using minimal resources on the BeagleBone platform. This allows all developers to easily add robust data functions into their IoT projects within minutes.""We are excited again to be partnering with Digi-Key to deliver a solution that serves the IoT development community," said E.E. Wang, chief marketing officer for Machinechat. "BeagleBone has long been recognized as one of the leading embedded platforms for developing IoT home, industrial and commercial applications. With the availability of JEDI One for BeagleBone, we are delighted to provide a solution that allows BeagleBone developers and enthusiasts to spend more time inventing and less time, money and resources developing data software for their project."Machinechat JEDI One for BeagleBone is available exclusively through Digi-Key Electronics for a one-time fee of US$39.00 for a single premium license. Each license supports one BeagleBone board and up to 16 devices and sensors.Available exclusively through Digi-Key Electronics for US$39, MachineChat JEDI One for BeagleBone