The latest survey report showed that in 2022, China's cloud market only grew by 10%, reaching US$30.3 billion. The fourth quarter of 2022 was especially rough, reporting only 4% growth and performing way under market expectations. This highlighted that as the economic situation deteriorates, corporations are less willing to shift IT resources to the cloud and instead focus more on operational cost-effectiveness.

The commercialization of 5G has entered its third year. In terms of market penetration, South Korea and China are the global leaders in 5G. Backed by the support of national policies and resources, China's 5G telecommunications equipment has also been adopted in many regions. Despite being hindered by US sanctions on exporting 5G equipment, China is actively laying out plans for 6G, with the hopes of becoming a leader in this field, even gaining control over standard-setting.

Commercialization of 6G technology may not arrive until 2023, but China, the US, the EU, Japan, and Korea have already stepped up development of chip applications supporting the next-generation communication.

5G, a technology deemed as fundamental to Industry 4.0, began to see large-scale commercial application around the world in 2020. However, 5G still faces problems related to difficulties in penetration and indoor coverage. Consequently, 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) technology is gaining traction in the mobile communications sector, owing to its high penetration rate and high speed. However, for 5G mmWave to be popularized, cost and energy consumption-related challenges should be overcome.

The industrial event 'Satellite 2023' has begun in Washington DC, USA, attracting over 350 companies from the aerospace supply chain, among them household names like NASA, SpaceX, OneWeb and Intelsat. As a crucial link in the global electronics industry, Taiwan has also set its sight upon the space industry. Satellite 2023 is consequently seeing numerous Taiwan-based participants, such as Universal Microwave Technology, Intai Technology Group, Pyras Technology and Tron Future Tech.

The effectiveness of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite backup communication services during the Russia-Ukraine war has attracted global attention to the business opportunities of LEO satellites. Both international manufacturers and those in the satellite supply chain are closely watching the technology's future development. Taiwan, which has long played a crucial production and R&D role in the global information and communication sector, can't miss this opportunity.

Wireless network solution provider HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) Aruba Networking expects Taiwan's wireless communication product market to continue enjoying growth in the upcoming years despite the weakening global economy. The company has also released GreenLake for Aruba network as a service (NaaS), aiming to provide its clients more flexibility in using its network services.

The Taiwan government will push Taiwan-based telecom carriers to raise the ratio of made-in-Taiwan equipment adoption to 40% for their new 5G base station construction and will form a 5G national team to assist Taiwan's suppliers in forming partnerships with first-tier companies worldwide, according to the reports of Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs to the Legislative Yuan on March 8.

Intel launched Intel Agilex 7 FPGAs with F-Tile, equipped with field-programmable gate array (FPGA) transceivers available on the market and designed to help customers address challenges across the most bandwidth-intensive areas of the data-centric world, including data centers and high-speed networks.

As China-based telecom equipment suppliers face growing skepticism in Western countries, Germany is reportedly considering forbidding telecom operators from using components from Huawei and ZTE.

Taiwan-based Elite Material Co. (EMC) is a CCL (copper-clad laminates) manufacturer with a leading presence in high-end HDI (high density interconnection) materials. In 2022, the company set revenue records. EMC pointed out that its product combination has improved. The growth in infrastructure network product market share and delivery has resulted in a slight increase in sales and lessened the impact of the poor performance of consumer electronics.

Demand for Wi-Fi main chips is expected to resume growth starting the second quarter and benefit related Taiwan-based chip designers including MediaTek, Realtek, and Richwave, according to sources from the upstream supply chain, who added that procurement orders from Europe and the US will be the key growth driver.

Lite-On Technology showcased vertical application of 5G private networks to three scenarios, namely, smart buildings, semi-outdoor environments, and smart factories, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 taking place in Barcelona, Spain, during February 27-March 2, according to the company.

A knockout competition is kicking off in the 5G O-RAN sector, and the market conditions will become clearer in one year, when winners are expected to emerge, according to Mike Yang, president of Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT), a datacenter solution provider affiliated with Quanta Computer.

Server ODM Wiwynn has showcased several edge computing solutions including 5G Open vRan and multi-access edge computing (MEC) servers at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 and has also announced partnerships with several telecom carriers worldwide in 5G O-RAN applications.

Mobile World Congress (MWC), with its 2023 edition set to open on February 27, is no longer just a showcase of smartphone devices, according to DIGITIMES Research. MWC over the past few years have showcased advanced solutions for wireless communication and AR/VR headsets. O-RAN and satellite communication have also caught much attention. DIGITIMES, after collecting opinions from analysts and ITRI, expects MWC 2023 to exhibit three major directions in terms of products, services, trends and technologies.

Fifth-generation (5G) subscriptions increased by 446 million in 2022 versus 592 million for 4G, thirteen years after 4G's initial launch. Omdia research conducted ahead of the Mobile World Congress discovered that only 31% of mobile operators offered 5G in 2022. This is expected to rise to 59% by the end of 2023 with 4G expected to dominate for many years.

Delta Electronics said on Feb 23 that its EV business – on-board chargers and battery management systems, will get even better this year, after announcing improved financial results for last year. Chairman Yancey Hai said at the latest earnings call that "availability of materials and components has much recovered" but there is still "a little bit of a shortage of some MCU and MOSFET."

At MWC 2023, MediaTek will spotlight technology and product highlights from its Dimensity, Filogic, Genio, Kompanio, and Pentonic portfolios, along with a variety of new demos for 5G beyond mobile. MediaTek will also be demonstrating its satellite communications platform and showcasing MediaTek-powered devices across different verticals from some of the world's biggest brands.

Taiwan's network device makers are catiously optimistic about their sales prospects for 2023 after recording double-digit annual revenue gains in 2022, partly because the ongoing US-China tech war will continue to bring them transferred orders despite possible short-term market fluctuations, according to industry sources.

Cellular IoT chip vendor Sequans Communications said in January that it expects to ship its second-generation Cat 1 chip in volume this year. In an interview with DIGITIMES Asia at CES 2023, the company's CEO highlighted Sequans' Cat 1bis chip, Calliope 2, and a 5G platform, Taurus, that is still under development and unannounced.

Having been working on IoT solutions since the 2010s, France-based cellular IoT chipmaker Sequans and Japan's leading IoT network provider Docomo are now taking cellular to satellite.

Nokia said it would expand its product portfolio manufactured in India to meet the rising demand for data and changing customer behavior, such as work-from-home.

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) foundry Win Semiconductors is conservative about its operations in the first quarter of 2023, citing ongoing weak demand and the traditional low season.

Both MediaTek and Realtek Semiconductor believe that a wave of Wi-Fi 6/6E upgrades is still in progress and that basic demand has not abated. Wi-Fi chip sales can still contribute to their overall operations in 2023 if the customer purchase pattern returns to normal.