Following the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, which has posed a serious challenge to medical facilities worldwide, governments have come to realize how precious medical capacities are. As such, the policy focus of government agencies and medical institutions has to gradually incorporate mechanisms that reflecting patient risk levels as to optimize limited medical resources. FaceHeart's image-based vital sign measurement technology has the potential in becoming part of a home healthcare system that facilitates the efficiency of medical resource allocation in society due to its ease of use and high accuracy. As a result, FaceHeart's technology has recently gained the attention of the medical industry. According to Jerry Chang, president of FaceHeart, the company has submitted a clinical trial application to the FDA in 2022. If the process goes smoothly, the company will receive certifications between 2023 and 2025 for vital signs measurements. It would be able to capitalize on ample business opportunities arising from the new era of medical care.
The rapid growth of e-commerce platforms has come in the wake of changes in consumer shopping patterns. And with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping has become both a common routine and an indispensable part of life for most people nowadays. According to a report from Euromonitor International, the annual growth of e-commerce in 2020 reached 26.94% globally, and it showed double-digit growth over the next few years. This wave has driven more SMEs and individual sellers to sell their products to overseas markets through cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba. On top of that, there are also many dropshipping companies on the market without warehousing and inventory, meaning that after the buyer places an order, the dropshipping company will deliver the goods directly to the wholesaler, avoiding the pressures of keeping inventory and making deliveries. However, regardless of the sales model, these individual sellers and SME e-commerce companies often ignore the complex process involved in cross-border sales, so their overall performance has not met expectations for growth.
Tensions in international trade since 2018 have complicated supply chain resilience for the leading top-tier brands within the electronics industry. Complex customer clearance and high tariffs have risen to the top of many purchasing problem-solving agendas. The need for supply chains outside of Greater China has become a prominent hot topic within corporate strategies. As the world experienced strict Chinese governmental lockdowns during the COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Pneumonia) epidemic, over-reliance on manufacturing within the Mainland called for alternative solutions. The moving trend towards Southeast Asian countries has since escalated.
The world has come to a consensus over the importance of developing renewable energies to mitigate the greenhouse effect and decrease our over-reliance on fossil fuels. In particular, solar energy has risen to become one of the primary methods of power generation. However, the relatively short life cycle of solar PV panels, which is approximately 20 years, has resulted in the accumulation of waste PV panels awaiting processing in many countries. According to a model by the International Energy Agency (IEA), 365 million tons of waste PV panels will be generated globally by 2050; as a result, the recycling of end-of-life PV panels has become an urgent issue.
As the wave of ESG has overtaken the world, the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held early this year centered around the theme of sustainable development to address global challenges. A diverse range of innovative solutions presented by attending participants were showcased. Among the exhibitors, Taiwan's Mbran Filtra participated in CES with a proprietary innovative filtration material, which ultimately won an award in the "Environmental Protection" category, for its potential in bringing a never-before-seen contribution to all humankind. In fact, with assistance from the Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), Mbran Filtra has participated and won awards for two consecutive years. At CES 2022, Mbran Filtra won an award for "the world's smallest filter."
In the face of the global net-zero emissions trend, Taiwan's manufacturing industries will need to provide comprehensive carbon emissions data to meet government regulations and customer needs. However, it is fairly difficult to collect comprehensive machinery data without affecting the operation of production lines. Built with LoRa technology on LPWAN (low-power wide area network), Blutech's NeVerLoSs LoRa and WSDMS (Wireless Sensor Data Management System) can help manufacturers set up industrial control dashboard and energy consumption analysis platforms quickly, which is the first step in digital transformation.
In just the past few years, AI has become a crucial part of many smart applications. Then there is ChatGPT, which has surprised global companies ever since its debut in late 2022. Many companies that were originally caution about AI have now dispelled those doubts and have embraced AI-driven digital transformation. For a company to adopt AI, it must first and foremost possess an adequate budget and a team of AI professionals. Secondly, it needs to identify a suitable focus area to optimize benefits within budget constraints and align with the operating team's expectations.
The recent craze over ChatGPT throws light on the underlying business opportunities of AI applications. AI applications driven by cloud services have attracted their fair share of attention, but Edge Computing AI applications are also on the rise. Edge AI helps reduce large amounts of data uploads to the cloud, which enables applications like photographic lenses and electronic devices to analyze data and respond instantly thanks to high-performance computing power. The technology also comes with its own advantages in cutting costs and saving power. In addition, Edge AI has crucial strengths in personal privacy and information security; it also creates many business opportunities in the embedded systems market. That is reason enough to be optimistic about the business opportunities in Edge AI development. AI tech startups are challenging market leaders through capital investment and continue to perform brilliantly in a series of AI chip product lines, from Edge Computing to cloud servers.
Macronix International Co., Ltd. (TSE: 2337), a leading integrated-device manufacturer in the non-volatile memory (NVM) market, today announced its OctaFlash memory line has received ISO 26262 ASIL D (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) certification from SGS TÜV Saar, ensuring makers of automotive electronic systems that OctaFlash meets the highest level of safety in automotive electronics.
Countries around the world are promoting renewable energy, for which solar power accounts for over half of green electricity. However, solar panels have a service life of less than 20 years, and can only be incinerated once they are scrapped; the CO2 generated has become a severe issue. California has even enacted strict laws to prohibit incineration. The solar panel recycling equipment developed by TSGC Technologies uses AI to break down solar panels into raw materials, so that they can be 100% recycled and reused.
