Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) is promoting the application of 5G private networks to increase the competitiveness of all industries by combining 5G with semiconductor manufacturing, information communication technology, petrochemical, and construction industries.
According to industry statistics, 70% of Taiwan's manufacturing sector has adopted 5G private networks, compared to 40% in Japan. Taiwan Electric and Electronics Manufacturers Association (TEEMA) recently hosted the AI Innovative Applications in 5G Private Networks Forum, where Inventec presented its experiences in adopting 5G technology and became the first server manufacturer which receive the 5G private network license from MODA.
Inventec SVP Abert Chen said the Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) providers have entered a transition process under the influence of the US-China trade conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic, with their production lines migrating out of China. Many industries also have difficulty finding enough workers because young people are not interested in manufacturing jobs. "This makes smart manufacturing and AI even more important," said Chen.
According to a study by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER), in 2020, about 73% of the EMS production happened in China, and the percentage plummeted to 37% in 2023. TIER projected that the number will continue to drop to 20% by 2025. EMS production capacities have migrated to Southeast Asia and Mexico, but some returned to Taiwan. The percentage of EMS production in Taiwan has increased to 39% in 2024, up from 26% in 2020.
5G is a critical tool for digital transformation due to its low latency, high bandwidth, and wide connection features. System integrators and 5G core network service providers are helping various industries such as construction, plastics, semiconductors, and petrochemical sectors build their domain ecosystems. Innovative applications of 5G include smart surveillance, Digital Twins, Automated Optical Inspection (AOI), etc.
Inventec senior manager Chien-cheng Chen said many Taiwanese companies have started using Augmented Reality (AR) technology to help their workers operate and maintain machines in Mexico and fix problems in real-time. AR glasses using the 5G private network for communications can help engineers focus on more important operations in areas not covered by Wi-Fi. They are not replaceable by industrial tablets.
However, the bandwidth of the 5G dedicated network is limited, and the large number of connected devices and the high transmission volume may cause signal delay problems. Therefore, the SI industry believes that it is necessary to apply edge AI.
For example, edge AI should be able to help detect defects, chemical cleaning room employee suit-up, production line personnel tumble, electronic fence breaches, etc., and not wait for the signal transmitted to the cloud server to make a judgment. In the future, when labor shortages become the norm, edge AI will be needed to reduce human error and labor consumption.
It is verified that if a base station fails in the 5G private network, IPCam can be smoothly transferred to another base station to continue operation in about 17 seconds. It takes only 5 minutes to restore 100% of the base station operation in a 5G private network blackout, demonstrating its excellent backup and network resilience.
Article translated by Judy Lin
