Texas Instrutments has given a less optimistic outlook for the third quarter of 2021, but industry sources have claimed that TI still sees prolonged lead times. TSMC has disclosed it is in early talks with clients about the feasibility of constructing a fab in Germany, and industry observers say such a fab could be a boost to Europe's car supply chain. DIGITIMES Asia president Colley Hwang has just published the first of his latest series of analysis of the global IT supply chain.
Propelled by the relentless efforts of Korean and Chinese panels makers, the application of the AMOLED panels has made significant headway in the tablet and notebook sector since 2021.
Optical component and module maker Young Optics saw operation for the second quarter of 2021 swing into profitability from consecutive net losses for six quarters, according to the company.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019, the global economy and people's lives have been greatly affected. Going to banks, hospitals, shopping at supermarkets, religious activities, and other daily activities, for example, all came under restrictions. In addition, onsite exhibitions that used to have large crowds have now almost all turned to the online format, including major international exhibitions such as CES and COMPUTEX. Although there are many online exhibition solutions on the market, they all focus on product exhibits and lack a platform for follow-up business opportunities and communication, relying only on traditional email, text customer service, telephone customer service, and video conferencing. These traditional communication modes lack scheduling design and are unable to provide appointment communication services and interactive functions, which in turn weakens the effectiveness of the online exhibition.
After the peak of component crunch in the second quarter along with insufficient inventory in the third quarter, stress of stagnant deliverables on the highway seems to have been relieved. A consensus of the supply chain is to let the manufacturers breathe. The fourth quarter is in line with the traditional off-season, and the days should be easier. From foundries to IC design houses, Taiwanese manufacturers are in the limelight now. DIGITIMES Asia has noted in its reports that the foundry sector is now a seller's market with strong demand to last in end of 2022. Such messages are based on dynamic changes in demand-supply status of IT industry from the most upstream of the supply chain. Component shortages and component cannibalization require long-term rolling tracking. DIGITIMES Asia has been making dynamic adjustments to its views in line with rolling forecasts.
Although the supply of automotive chips in the second half of the year remains slow and the overall shortage of materials continues to affect future shipment, the automotive lighting module maker, Excellence Optoelectronics (EOI) still expects its sales performance in 2021 to be better than 2020.
TSMC is evaluating the feasibility of building more fabs overseas fabs, including Germany, according to the foundry house's chairman. Strong demand and tight capacity are sending foundry quotes rising. UMC is mulling raising service fees further by 10-15% in first-quarter 2022 for 40nm process. MIH CEO Jack Cheng believes the Foxconn-led open platofrm for EV development is revolutionzing the car industry.
Taiwan-based voice coil motor (VCM) suppliers expect their shipments to gain momentum in second-half 2021, having already kicked off recently the related shipments for the next-generation iPhone devices slated for the launch in the latter half of 2021.
Vietnam-based VinFast's branch offices in the US, Canada, France, Germany, and Netherland have begun operation and will start selling electric vehicles (EVs) in these countries, according to a report by Vietnam Investment Review.
Demand from the car sector has been strong, and foundry houses are stepping up efforts to rolling out more automotive chips. Apple's manufacturing partners are seeing COVID-induced disruptions to their production in Vietnam, and will have to move poduction of new-gen AirPods to China. And in China, construction of 5G base stations is slowing down this year.
Shipments of flexible PCBs (FPCB) and SiP modules for use in the next-generation AirPods have kicked off in small volumes, and will be scaled up between late third-quarter and fourth-quarter 2021, according to industry sources at the upstream supply chain of the AirPods.
Taiwan's optoelectronics industry in the first half of 2021 shows strong growth, compared to the same period in 2020, due to the large-scale stimulus plans from major economies and the steady global economic demand. Among the optoelectronic industry, panels have increased the most, because of the stay-at-home economy and shortage of raw materials and components, which have stimulated the increase in panel price.
Smartphone-use lens module maker Genius Electronic Optical (GSEO), based on orders received, expects current full utilization of production capacity to continue until the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2021, according to company chairman Jones Chen.
WHO estimates show that cardiovascular diseases are the cause of approximately 17.9 million deaths worldwide each year and account for 31% of total deaths, making it the leading non-infectious cause of death. Reports of individuals living alone suddenly passing away at home or bus drivers dying due to a heart attack while on the clock are far from rare occurrences on the news. Today, with the advent of technology, there is finally a solution to these events that used to catch people off guard. Singular Wings Medical has come up with a Group CVD monitoring system that serves as a network-based multi-to-many real-time physiological vital signs monitoring solution. Patients only need to wear a lightweight monitoring patch to allow the back-end system to monitor the real-time changes of their vital signs, thus reducing the chance of sudden death due to cardiovascular failure through active monitoring in place of after-the-fact diagnosis.
Metal and plastic surface treatment service provider Superior Plating Technology has set up Ever Superior Tech, a joint venture with heat-dissipating module maker Amulaire Thermal Technology and aircraft maintenance service provider Evergreen Aviation Technologies, in a bid to extend its operation to electroplating of heat-dissipating modules used in electric vehicles (EVs) and aircraft, according to Superior Plating.
Apple has stepped up its chip purchases for the upcoming iPhones, while first-tier automotive component vendors in the supply chains of carmakers in Japan are also vying for more available ICs, according to industry sources.
Taiwanese industrial IT product makers, including Foxlink, Delta Electronics, AcBel Polytech, FSP, and Winmate, have all warned that component shortages have become an issue that all supply chain companies need to deal with, as extensions in component deliveries have become a norm.
Fighting COVID-19 has become the top priority of governments around the world as the virus ravages the world. COVID-19 is highly contagious and has forced the healthcare and high tech industries to join forces in designing contactless care systems in hopes of controlling the pandemic as early as possible. The Ted-ICU AI Platform and KIOSK that were recently released by Radica Health not only reduce contact between healthcare workers and patients, but also improve work efficiency through cutting-edge technologies.
IKKA Holdings (Cayman), a maker of precision plastic injection molded components, was successfully listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on May 31, 2021. DIGITIMES recently talked to Vincent Hu, chairman and COO of IKKA, about why the company focuses on plastic injection and how it is going to work more closely with automakers in China, Japan and Southeast Asia.
Delta Electronics (Thailand), the subsidiary of Taiwan-based Delta Electronics, has become the regional business headquarters and manufacturing center in India and Southeast Asia for its parent company.
PCB manufacturers engaged in the notebook, tablet and other PC industry supply chain continue to see their shipments constrained by shortages of various chips in varying degrees, which may persist through the second half of this year, according to industry sources.
In times of illness that necessitate physical exams at the hospital, most people have the experience of having to wait long periods of time for computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results. Although spinal fluid extraction and biopsy of organic tissue are mature technologies, patients are daunted by the invasive nature of these procedures. The fiberoptic particle plasmon resonance (FOPPR) technology developed by Instant NanoBiosensors not only has sensitivity far exceeding other mainstream instruments on the market, but is able to, using just a small amount of peripheral blood (serum, less than 20uL) and three simple steps-- sample injection, analysis and report generation, produce testing results in just a few minutes.
Automotive component and parts suppliers are cautious about shipments in the second half of this year, despite brisk order visibility they have, according to industry sources.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage countries across the globe, screening has become a necessary weapon for fighting the epidemic. Currently utilized testing methods, however, require professional processing, and results are not available until at least four hours later. In response to this pain point, BluSense Diagnostics has developed BluBox, a portable medical testing platform that eliminates the need for sample pre-processing and shortens testing time to just six minutes.
China, which has been relying heavily on semiconductor imports, is keen to improve it IC self-sufficiency. But DIGITIMES Asia president Colley Hwang thinks the key for China is to keep the momentum for its economic growth. Apple reportedly will introduce the third-generation iPhone SE series in first-half 2022 adopting A14 Bionic, creating opportunities for its semiconductor supply chain. Thanks to WFH deeds, MIS has expects its shipments for IT devices to stay strong in 2021.
